Loyalty, Honor, Strength, Power
by balthezarian
Summary: The hidden story of an interstellar rebellion that was kept from the universe.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: Yes, yes, I have a thousand stories I need to finish, but I really needed to write this down before it left my memory completely. This unbelievably epic tale, which I will wager to be one of my longer stories, took up a lot of my daydreaming time while I was sick. And I openly admit that this first chapter doesn't say very much, but trust me when I say all will make sense if you're willing to stick with me on this one. There are a lot of new characters in this story, but don't worry, they'll be surrounded by plenty of familiar faces!

/\/\/\

Many years ago, one of the galaxies was divided up into the eight kingdoms. Almost seven hundred planets were joined within the collection of kingdoms, with each major empire controlling an equal share. The rulers of the eight kingdoms worked together in a peaceful manner, making sure that resources were shared and civilians were cared for. Each planet had its own political system, and worked well as a city-state, but they were ruled carefully by the eight empires. They were kings and queens, emperors and empresses, powerful men and women who made certain that the worlds were maintained.

For several centuries, the eight kingdoms shared equally and without greed. From the time of infancy, the royals were taught the four tenants of the empires: Loyalty, Honor, Strength, and Power.

Loyalty to those who have earned it. To never turn their back on an ally, to stand up for one another, to never betray another.

Honor at all times. To hold true to every oath given, to ensure that justice is served in a swift but fair manner, to always stand by the principals that they were to live by.

Strength in person. To maintain the highest standards of both physical strength and strength of character, to never let themselves falter in body or soul.

Power for the empires. To keep all of the planets within their parameters under careful control, to allow them to exist as individual worlds but maintaining the ability to assert absolute control, if need be.

The generations of leaders were always bred at the same time, ensuring that they could be raised together, educated together, and for a few years of their youth, to live together. It helped them learn to trust each other, to depend on each other, and to function as a single, impenetrable unit. By the time they reached adulthood, they were always the best of friends and allies, keeping the kingdoms remarkably close. They always chose a mate within their own race, choosing to keep each kingdom separated and not risk a power struggle.

And so the empires thrived, always able to fend off invaders, to stop what few uprisings there were, and to provide good lives for their citizens.

But as time wore on, one of the empires was no longer satisfied with their share. They began to demand more power, more wealth, more control. They threatened the other kingdoms, saying that if demands were not met, retaliation would be swift and brutal.

The other seven rulers scoffed at the notion. They were all equal in power and control, so if that one decided to break off and attack, they would be swiftly subdued by the united front of the other seven. They offered the rebelling empire a chance to peacefully return to the group without fear of retribution, and for a brief while, it seemed that all would be peaceful.

Slowly, though, weaknesses began to form in the other empires. The ones who had threatened to rebel had not returned peacefully. They had returned to infiltrate and form a strong hold against the other worlds, and they did their job well. Riots broke out and couldn't be contained. Rebellions began to spring up that authorities could not control. Anger, aggression, and rage seemed to spread like a plague throughout all eight kingdoms at once.

The rising rulers were adolescents when the wars began to start up, and they began to question why, after so many years of care, the citizens would turn on them. Bitterness began to form in them, and the trust that had been solid and dependable for generation after generation began to splinter and break apart.

Each one of them became fiercely protective of the worlds that were "theirs". Resources stopped flowing freely from one system to another. Planets began to struggle as supplies were running short. In times of difficulty, the worlds of the respective empires began to turn on each other.

Two more generations came and went, and the eight empires were no longer balanced and equal. Broken into factions with sub-factions, the rulers took what they could from one another without remorse. The largest kingdom, the one that had started the rebellions, held several hundred planets in its power. The smallest held only a handful. The rulers no longer spoke to one another unless they were making demands, and diplomacy seemed totally lost. They seemed almost unaware of how close they had once been. The only agreement any of them had was of their hatred of the eighth kingdom.

But while the rulers drifted into their own levels of greed and hatred, many of the citizens were old enough to remember the good days, the days of plenty. They remembered how every few decades, when the next generation was ready, the royal children were taken away to be trained as a single, impenetrable unit. They remembered the cooperation of the worlds, and the prosperity that it brought. And they were determined to once again have peace.

So warriors and nobles from the seven remaining kingdoms met in secret, brought together by determination to save their worlds. They formed a society that they carefully hid, knowing that if they were ever discovered, hope would be lost. For several years they hid and planned, knowing that if they were going to have any chance at success, they would need to unite the seven empires again. With their current rulers, there was no hope of peace. But if they could wait a few years…

It took many, many years of hard work, scheming, manipulating, but they finally managed to pull off the first stage of their plan. The next generation had to be made, and the society ensured that, as each new royal came along, it was genetically manipulated to be far superior to the other members of their respective races. They tried to make sure that each empire had at least two potential heirs, but only three were successful. The society managed to obtain positions in their home worlds that allowed them to be teachers and caretakers of these young charges, and from infancy, they were taught all that their ancestors had known: Loyalty, Honor, Strength, Power.

These lessons were kept from their parents, kept from the rest of their worlds. They learned, from those earliest of years, that what they were doing was secret and dangerous. They were taught history, economics, political science, biology, chemistry, basic engineering skills, fighting skills, diplomacy, and survival skills. Each had their greatest talents heightened to levels that their people had never before seen. They were taught everything they could know as individuals, until the time had come for them to partake in that ancient tradition not seen by their great grandparents. They were taken to live together, to learn together, to survive together as a single, impenetrable force.

And so, on that fateful day, the future leaders of the seven empires met for the first time:

Ronai, princess of the Rothulian Empire. Approximately seven Earth years old, with a gift for heat and fire. Her skin was a brilliant crimson, and was at such a high natural temperature that so much as a brush from her bare skin could set almost anything on fire.

Irinya, princess of the Mehgur Empire. She was roughly eight, with skin a brilliant gold and softer, orange and yellow hair that fell across her narrow shoulders. Her people were well known for their ability to teleport, and she was no exception.

Zierke and Zarbon, brother princes from the Tuleque Empire. They were fourteen and twelve, respectively, when they met the others. While they were powerful fighters, their true powers came from their ability to manipulate those around them. Their skills of persuasion were unprecedented.

Shishki, princess of the Ingarthan Empire. A ten year old with a knack for engineering, she loved playing with her power over electricity. Her pale, cat like appearance was softened by an impressive flowing mane that ran all the way down her back.

Dorgian, prince of the Hethgain Empire. At sixteen, he was the eldest among the group. The lavender tint of his skin gave him a soft appearance, but he was a natural leader and a powerful ally.

Jeice and Jaikan, twin princes from the Bokure Empire. The eleven year olds were physically identical, but they held radically different personalities. Jeice was wild, free, and outgoing, willing to take risks and jump into the fray. Jaikan was quieter, more reserved, but no less dangerous if provoked. The boy was brilliant almost beyond comparison, and one could never tell just what weapon or trick he had up his sleeves.

Vegeta and Takyra, prince and princess of the Saiyan Empire. They were close in age, not even a year apart, so while he was the elder, they were both technically six years old. They Saiyans were best known for their physical prowess, and brother and sister did not disappoint. On top of their natural ability to fight, Vegeta was a brilliant strategist, and Takyra had a gift working with water.

There was one more thrown in with them, a girl with no empire of her own, but a key member all the same. Romaniyae was half Rothulian and half Saiyan, the product of curiosity on behalf of the society. Genetically engineered from the beginning, the society held great hopes for her. She held the bronzed skin, brown tail, and natural fighting abilities of her Saiyan side, but her bright red hair, shining blue eyes, and ability to manipulate fire as well as any Rothulian before her.

They day they met would have made history, but their secret was kept so well that none outside of their group ever knew about them. They were there to do what should have been done decades before they were born.

They were determined to come together once again, and to finally bring down the Kold Empire.

/\/\/\

Author's Note: For those of you who stayed with me until the end of the page, a few notes and disclaimers that would have made _no_ sense at the top.

First of all, with the exception of the Saiyans and the Kolds, I totally made up each of the empires. As far as I know, Jeice and Zarbon had no 'official nationality'.

Secondly, for those of you saying, "Um, you know those guys hate each other, right?" I assure you that it will all be dealt with.

And third…there was a third thing I was going to say, but I have no idea what it is. If I remember, I'll let you know.


	2. Chapter 2

Note: For those of you wondering, this is a bit of an AU and Tarble had not found his way into my fever rattled brain when I dreamed up this fantasy world. But as I said before, there will be plenty of familiar faces. Thank you!

/////

"Aren't you nervous?" Takyra asked, trying to smooth out her skirt for the tenth time.

"No."

The little girl glared at her older brother. They were on their way to meet the other children they had been told so much about, and the six year old girl could not stop squirming. Their ship wasn't large at all, so the two young royals and their guardian had to remain seated through the two day journey.

It was not something that Takyra was particularly skilled at yet. "I can't believe you're not nervous," she muttered. "We're about to meet the other princes and princesses, and we're the youngest ones! I just don't want to embarrass myself, you know?"

"Hn."

Takyra brushed her long bangs from her eyes angrily. "Could you at least act like you care about what we're about to do?" she snipped. "This is important!"

"Hn."

Giving up, the small girl crossed her arms in frustration. "You're impossible, Vegeta."

The young prince looked out the window of the ship and remained silent. He knew that it bothered his sister to no end when he was quiet, and while he rarely tried to annoy her deliberately, he honestly had nothing to say on the subject. Where his sister had shown excitement and eagerness, Vegeta only felt strangely numb during the trip. He wasn't anxious, he wasn't exited, he wasn't curious…

He was just numb.

////

"What is this place?" Shishki sneered, looking around the large empty room she stood in. The young Ingarthan crinkled her catlike nose at her surroundings, clearly disliking everything she was seeing. The room was enormous, but bare, and it was not something that the ten year old princess was used to. Even during her training on her home world, she had always had the best equipment and the grandest training grounds. The bare, hollow hall was hardly the caliber the had been expecting.

"Hush," her guardian hissed. "You do not know what you have been gifted with."

The girl snorted and glared to the side, the tassels from her black headdress swaying from her movement. For the past six years of her life, she had been told of this grand day, when the futures of seven empires would meet and bring their skills together for the first time. She was expecting the best.

"You cannot expect me to learn anything with such poor supplies," she snipped.

"We don't expect you to learn anything in that ridiculously distracting outfit," a voice cut from behind.

The princess whipped around, a growl in her throat. "Do you know who I am, little boy?"

"I assume that you are a spoiled princess who is not at all prepared for what she is about to go through," the little boy shot back, adjusting the bag slung over his shoulder.

Shishki hissed, and her razor sharp claws slid out from underneath her pristine white fur. "Why you insolent little…"

"STOP THAT!" bellowed a deep alto voice.

Immediately, both children addressed the threatening woman who rounded the corner on them. "You have been summoned here in an attempt to unify the universe again, and if either of you cannot seem to remember it, then perhaps some lashes might be in order." When Shishki opened her mouth to retaliate, the intimidating woman coolly added, "Regardless of your station on your homeworld, you are to follow every order you are given here, and can receive any punishment we deem necessary."

The catlike princess repressed the urge to hiss at this new woman, sensing that her own guardian may actually stand down and allow her to take a beating from this stranger. Quietly seething, she slipped alongside her guardian, carefully watching these strange, new creatures.

The tall woman turned her attention to the boy and growled at him. "You have been here for under five minutes and already you are attacking the others," she scolded. The boy offered a noncommittal shrug, earning himself and angry hand clamped down on his shoulder. "You will do as you are told, Vegeta, or you will answer to me. Do you understand?"

Raising his eyes only as far as her chin, the little Saiyan quietly said, "Yes, Kaeyea." He may be a gifted child, but she was downright scary. A careful warrior, Kaeyea was not only among the most powerful Saiyans in her physical strength, but was also a tactical genius and seemingly aware of anything and everything around her. She had befriended the queen when both had been quite young, and had easily earned a position as the guardian of the young prince and princess of her race.

Vegeta was naturally rebellious, but even he did not dare to cross his guardian. Even for him, that was suicide.

Takyra did not share her brother's sense of rebellion, nor his outspoken ways. His opposite in almost every way, she was quiet, reserved, and would rather slip anonymously through a crowd than to let anyone know she was there. She hardly came off as a princess, hating any form of formal clothing. Her short black hair fell just in front of her eyes and she found that, when dressed in her common clothes, many mistook her for boy.

However, as shy as she was, when challenged, young Takyra was a force to be reckoned with. And her brother and guardian knew it.

"Come," Kaeyea coolly commanded. "It is time you met the others."

Falling in line behind their guardian, Vegeta and Takyra exchanged a glance. "I still think that headdress she was wearing was ridiculous."

Takyra couldn't help her giggle.

They followed their guardian through the enormous, empty room, to a small, plain door. One by one, the princes and princesses were herded in to a small room with a series of desks. Taking the cue from their respective guardians, each young royal took a seat, trying to remain as far away from one another as possible.

An Ingarthan woman stood at the front of the room, and Vegeta and Takyra recognized her as the guardian of the girl Vegeta had argued with earlier. "There are eleven of you and eleven seats," she bluntly said. "You will, in fact, have to be close to each other."

Grumbling, the last of the children took their seats, almost none of them seeming at all happy to be there. "SILENCE," the Ingarthan roared, slamming her staff violently against the ground. "You will be quiet immediately, or you will face the consequences. You are not in your kingdoms. You are not protected. You are not royalty here. If you disobey, if you are insubordinate, if you fail at a task, you WILL be disciplined, and it will be severe."

"You are, as ALL of you have been told, here to become a single, unstoppable unit," Kaeyea continued. "You are here to receive training that would be impossible to do on your own worlds. You may think yourselves talented, but believe us when we say that you are worthless as you are."

A Tuleque woman, with dark emerald hair and pale blue skin, joined them. "You will learn to rely on one another as though your lives depend on it, because they do. Not only does your ability to thrive depend on each other, but your ability to even survive does. We will not be kind. We will not be merciful. We will push you beyond your physical, mental, and psychological limits. You will go through hell. You will hate us."

"But it is necessary," Kaeyea went on. "Once you leave this place, each of your empires will likely come under attack. The Kold Empire has each and every one of your worlds in its sight, and the responsibility for the salvation of your people rests solely on your shoulders. If you choose to step aside, if you choose to let your contemporaries fall to those madmen, then you deserve to fail and die."

"Your people, though, do not," the Ingarthan continued. "The Kold's will not take you down quietly. They will massacre everyone who lives within your realm, and they will make you watch. Your failure here will cost your people their existence."

Kaeyea prowled at the front of the room, glaring at the young royals. "You will be shown to your quarters immediately, but you will only be there long enough to change into your training gear. Your first session begins in five minutes." Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Do NOT be late."

Normally inclined to make a smart assed remark, Vegeta had known Kaeyea long enough to know what that look meant. Unlike most of the other royal children there, Vegeta was not at all foreign to the concept of corporal punishment. At the thought, the six year old actually smirked. As Saiyans, he and Takyra practically thrived on physical duress. It had taken him only a minute to realize that, with the possible exception of the red headed girl in front of him, the rest of the children around them had likely been coddled their whole lives. Their first lashing was going to be a hell of an eye opener for them.

Knowing that time was of the essence, Takyra and Vegeta set a swift pace toward the living quarters. There were three sibling sets, and as one of them, the Saiyans did not want to be separated. Kaeyea had told them that their temporary quarters would be fairly empty, and sleeping would be done in bunks. Vegeta did not like sharing his space with anyone, but if he absolutely had to, his sister was the way to go.

"You want the top or the bottom?" his younger sister whispered.

"Bottom," he quietly answered. From that position, no one had access to his back, and he could keep an eye on hers. They were well ahead of the rest of the group when they reached the door, and they smirked at each other, confident that they would get first pick.

Needless to say, they were caught off guard to find a golden princess already in there.

"Let me guess," the clearly annoyed Saiyan prince neutrally said. "You're the teleporter."

"Gee, how did you figure that out?" Irinya sarcastically said, dropping her elegant case on one of the beds. "Now leave, I need to change."

"Tough," Vegeta shot back, tossing his own bag on the bottom bunk near hers. "Group living quarters. Besides, there are eight others about to come in here. If you can't deal with that, you're screwed."

As the indignant Irinya prepared to retort, Romaniyae, the red headed girl, tossed her nondescript bag on the bottom bunk, underneath that of the golden princess. "Well, I'm ready!" she happily said, turning back out.

"She seems happy," Takyra softly observed.

Narrowing his eyes at the retreating redhead, Vegeta responded, "I'm not going to like that one, am I?"

Shrugging, the quiet princess simply followed her brother out of the room. They certainly didn't need to change, and since their beds were claimed, they had no further reason to remain in the room. She wasn't sure how he would react to a perpetually happy person, having never really spent any real amount of time near one before, but she did know that staying in a small room as it became a small, crowded room was not going to end well.

They silently walked away from the group, wondering just what was in store for them.

Even they had no idea just what torture was in store for them.


	3. Chapter 3

Seven months had passed. The children had all made occasional guest appearances in their homelands, courtesy of the teleportation powers of one of their guardians, but only enough for no one to be suspicious of their whereabouts.

With the exception of those few, brief visits, the children were kept cloistered at their new location. The learned fast that the guardians spoke the truth: their rank meant nothing in that place. Every mistake, regardless of severity, was punished harshly. As such, the children learned equally quickly how to follow orders.

It minimized the pain.

However, their progress was nothing shy of astounding. Their natural skills were further honed, and every single one of them picked up new ones. They were pushed in everything. Strength. Speed. Endurance. Coordination. Bare handed combat. Short and long range arms combat. Strategy. Probabilities. Infiltration. Psychology. Technology. Anything they could possibly need to know they were drilled on again and again and again. As individuals, their improvement was extremely impressive.

It was soon time to put those skills together. They had long learned to work beside one another. It was time to work _with_ one another.

Takyra hissed as she approached the boarding room at the end of the day. The lashes on her back were deep and long, far worse than any she had ever received before. The guardians had assured her than no physical mark they left would be permanent, but as the little Saiyan girl tried to open the door, she simply could not fathom how her wounds could possibly heal completely.

Approaching from the rear, Vegeta assisted her and opened the door. His sister tilted her head to the side and gave him a sad smile. "How do you move so casually with those on your back?"

The young prince shrugged, but he immediately regretted it. No matter how badly he wanted to pretend that his marks did not hurt him at all, there was no way he was going to make that move again until the muscles in his back were once again in working order. "Mine aren't as deep as yours," he quietly answered, leading her in.

It was true. Takyra had been dealt her punishment for being sloppy with her training routine. She'd had a poor nights sleep the night before and found herself struggling to concentrate. Vegeta's crime, on the other hand, was simply an attempt to protect his sister. In the eyes of the guardians, her crime was worse than his, and so was her punishment.

A sigh sounded behind them. "You two don't listen very well, do you?"

Vegeta moved quickly, getting his sister all the way into the room and assuming a defensive stance. The redheaded girl snorted and shook her head. "Don't trust very well either, eh?" With a roll of her eyes, Romaniyae casually approached the Saiyan siblings. "Kaeyea said you needed to go to the health room."

It was the prince's turn to snort. "She simply counseled us to get our lashes checked out," he countered. "It was not a direct order."

"Are direct orders the only ones you listen to?" Romaniyae fought back. "You two are wounded! Why wouldn't you go get help?"

Takyra appeared in the doorway, standing as tall as she could at her brother's side. "We are Saiyans," she proudly stated. "These are nothing for us."

Again, the redhead rolled her eyes. "Since you two idiots are clearly too proud to go out of what clearly must be a great deal of pain," she bargained, "I'll make you a deal. Either you two can go do what Kaeyea told you to do and get yourselves fixed up, or I will spend the remainder of the day telling you a story with no point and of very little interest."

Vegeta's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You wouldn't."

With a wicked smile, Romaniyae casually began. "It all started long ago when I was one…or was I two? No, I must have been almost three, because when I was three I really wanted to turn a flower into a pet. Not just any flower, mind you, but…"

In unison, the Saiyans left the room and headed to the medical room. As Takyra staggered ahead, Vegeta stayed behind and walked with the redhead. "That was low."

"Never said it wasn't," the girl playfully replied.

"You know, you're a lot more evil than I thought you were."

Romaniyae giggled. "Well, if any of you actually spent any time getting to know me, you would have learned that a long time ago."

It was true, none of the young royals had spent any time socializing with one another. They trained all day and retired quietly to the sleeping quarters at night. The prince knew everything about his fellow royals as fighters and tacticians, but he honestly knew very little about their direct personalities. Until that exact moment, it had seemed like a waste of time to acquaint himself with them on a social level.

Suddenly wishing to be a part of the conversation, Takyra fell back. "You're different," she softly stated.

The vibrant redhead raised an eyebrow. "We're all different."

"No," the princess pushed on, narrowing her eyes as she studied the other girl. "You're really different."

"You're a half blood," Vegeta filled in. "You are the only one among us not in line to inherit a throne. You are the only one here with no real ties to a particular world." His own eyes narrowed in suspicion. "That means you're the only one with no call to loyalty."

"Hey!" Romaniyae snapped, her long tail suddenly whipping from side to side. "Just because I have the blood of two races doesn't mean that I'd turn traitor! If anything, you two should take comfort that one of the empires I'm technically a part of is _yours_!"

Takyra hissed, the crossing wounds on her back suddenly screaming with pain again. "Our apologies," she hissed.

"Her apologies," Vegeta quickly interrupted. "I have nothing to apologize for. You have never done anything to prove any sort of loyalty to anyone, but you have access to a dangerous amount of information. I would have to be an idiot not to suspect you."

The half-blood rolled her eyes yet again. "Oh, for crying out loud," she groaned. "We've shared a room for months, Vegeta! Have I ever done anything to make you _not_ trust me?"

Takyra snickered before hissing in pain again. "Roma, you're not going to win this argument. He's not a very trusting person."

"And if you wish to be counted as a Saiyan," Vegeta added, "you will address me appropriately."

"Rank doesn't matter here," the redhead quipped back, her tail snapping behind her. "You want me to address you as a prince, little boy? Wait for us to get home."

While normally the prince would have immediately defended his rank and title, something else seemed more pressing on his mind. "Roma?"

"Yeah?" the redhead responded.

"No," he slowly reasoned out, glaring at his sister. "You called her Roma."

Takyra's narrow eyes widened as she realized her mistake. "Well, I just meant…"

Vegeta's eyes narrowed even further. "When the hell did you manage to socialize with her?" he demanded. "I have been next to you almost every minute of every day for months! There has been no time! The only time you're not near me is…" The prince froze in his tracks, his look of suspicion changing to one of curiosity. "You two talk in the shower?"

"Of course we do," Roma said as though it was the most obvious thing in the cosmos. "What, don't the guys talk?"

A fierce shade of red crossed the boy's face. "Of course not!" He jogged to catch up to the two females. "Do you mean to tell me that _all_ of you talk while you're bathing?"

Takyra shook her head, hissing yet again in pain as even that simple movement agitated her wounds. "Shishki doesn't," she pointed out, "but that's because she doesn't bathe like the rest of us do, so she's not in there."

"Other than that," the redhead casually said, "yeah, we all talk. Which, by the way, is how we all seem to know what's going on more than you boys do."

Though he wanted to question her further, Vegeta realized that they had reached the health station and that Kaeyea was waiting there, a stern look on her face. "Where the hell have you two been?"

"We swung by our living quarters first," the boy quickly, and honestly, answered.

The guardian raised an eyebrow, but allowed it to slide when she saw no lie in his eyes. "Very well. Takyra, you are going first."

"Feel better," Roma whispered to her friend before sliding back toward the door.

"Oh, no you don't!" Vegeta grunted, pulling the half-blood back in. "How long has this little talking thing been going on?"

Annoyed, Roma shook herself out of his grip. "Since about the second week," she responded. Her bright blue eyes narrowed as she analyzed him carefully. "It really, really bothers you that we talk to each other, doesn't it?"

"What bothers me," he hissed, "is that there is information being passed around that not all of us are in on."

"Geez, it's not like were telling interstellar secrets!" the redhead countered. "We talk about what we like to wear, and the music we listen to, and stories we were told when we were really little." She paused for a moment before coyly adding, "And, of course, what we think of you boys."

Her voice muffled from the table she was lying on, Takyra called out, "You're not helping, Roma!"

"Vegeta," one of the other guardians called out, "we can work on you over here."

With a sigh, the prince removed what was left of his shirt to allow the woman access to his wounded back. It was obvious that his own injuries bothered him a lot less than his sister's did her, and for good reason. Not only were Takyra's more severe, but she was not nearly so used to them as her brother. Vegeta's rebellious nature had him almost constantly in at least some trouble. As such, it was rare for a full day to pass without him being beaten a _little_.

"Play nice," Kaeyea counseled as she sewed her youngest charge shut. "You two are about to spend a lot of time together."

Both the prince and the redhead immediately paled. "We're going to what?"

"We begin partner work tomorrow," the Saiyan warrior calmly stated. "Some work will be in pairs, some in small groups. I can promise you, though, that you will each be spending a large amount of time learning to trust your allies."

Laying face down on his table, Vegeta snorted the word, "Fantastic."

Across the room, Takyra whimpered as her guardian reached the worst of her injuries. The girl had a remarkably high tolerance for pain, but what she felt at that moment suddenly made her want to cry.

Vegeta closed his eyes and reached out for his sister with his mind. His own pain he could handle just fine, but one of the few things in life that truly bothered him was listening to Takyra suffer. Through their telepathic link he soothed her, letting her know that he was right there and that everything would be okay.

Kaeyea watched closely, well aware of what the two were doing. The prince was extremely protective of his sister, a trait that was both admirable and dangerous. While his tie to the girl kept him from being completely emotionally isolated from the universe, it was risky to maintain. It not only left Takyra relying too much on her brother's skills and not enough of her own, but it made her an obvious target if anyone wanted to get to the prince.

Standing near the doorway and watching quietly, Roma stared in awe at the mental transaction. She'd heard that they were that connected, but she was amazed to find that, while she could not tell what they were specifically saying to one another, she could almost see a visible wave floating between the two of them.

"Are we going to learn how to do that?" the half-blood softly asked.

Kaeyea considered for a while. "You likely will," she replied. "You hold enough Saiyan blood in you that you should be able to learn psychic communication with limited work. Some of the other races, though, are simply not compatible for it. They lack the part in their brain that allows for that form of communication, making it virtually impossible."

Roma nodded and entered the room slightly more. "Can all Saiyans do this?" she wondered out loud, moving toward a chair.

The guardian nodded. "All have the inherent capability," she confirmed, "but it takes training and discipline to hone it enough to be able to send clear messages to one another. And with enough regular practice, most Saiyans can develop strength with their telekinetic abilities as well."

Again, Roma nodded. She quietly wondered to herself if it would take her long to learn the skills her kin already seemed so adept at. She had spent her life honing her skills as a Rothulian. She had never actually met a Saiyan until she had met the royals seven months earlier. Her potential skills as a Saiyan fascinated her, and she sat down as she wondered what else she could do.

Perhaps being partnered up with the tense little prince would be a great experience after all…


	4. Chapter 4

Takyra brushed her long black bangs away from her bluish eyes. She looked around the circle of young fighters, wondering which one of the others she would be partnered with. She knew that she was one of the weaker fighters of the group, and it had her slightly on edge.

She was the youngest of them, and one of the smallest as well. While she boasted impressive speed, she was not the fastest. Her agility was certainly to be admired, and she was a good strategist. However, while she could hold her own against a lot of the other young ones, there were definitely a few of them that she knew she would not stand a chance against.

With a deep breath, she prayed to any deity that would listen that she got paired with Jaikan.

She could whoop his ass in a heart beat.

Even with her back barely stitched together.

Beside her, Vegeta smirked slightly. Her thoughts were easily picked up by her big brother, and he was, as always, entertained by them. In all honesty, he was hoping for the same thing. His overly protective nature had him hoping just as hard that she got the little orange guy. Jaikan was a genius, and he could build anything out of anything, but as far as fighting was concerned, he was definitely the weak link. He was certainly hoping that was the guy his sister went up against.

For himself, though, he wanted a much greater challenge. Zarbon and Zierke were significantly stronger, but not as agile as he was. Either one would make a fantastic challenge. Better, he might get Dorgian. In the months they had been there, Dorgian had held on to his title as the strongest of the group. Being able to take him down would be an incredible achievement. If paired with him, Vegeta could increase his own strength unbelievably quickly.

Nothing helped a Saiyan gain strength like being broken in half, and Dorgian would be more than capable of doing that.

Kaeyea walked into the center of the ring, glaring at her young charges. She had long established herself as the dominant trainer in the physical arena, and they all knew it. The powerful warrior walked around the circle, looking at each and every one of them.

"You all know that today is the day that we begin partner work," she firmly began. "Your partners have already been determined, and any form of complaints about who you are assigned to, there will be _severe_ consequences."

Every single one of them stood up just a little straighter. When that woman said there would be consequences, she meant it.

"Your partners are as follows. Zierke and Dorgian, you are up first."

The two oldest and largest boys exchanged smirks. They were the titans of the group, and they were looking forward to cutting loose against one another.

"Zarbon and Jeice."

Those two both offered indifferent shrugs.

"Shishki and Jaikan."

That one caught everyone by surprise. Not only was Jaikan taken, leaving a thin layer of sweat forming on Takyra's palms, but he was paired up against Shishki, the most aggressive one among them. That little cat like princess was extremely violent, had razor sharp claws, and was already quite skilled at ki fighting. That little orange guy was going to get shredded.

A stray thought struck Vegeta at that moment. All of the boys were taken. That meant, no matter what, he was going to be paired with a girl.

It took every ounce of self control he had to not groan and roll his eyes. He did not have a problem with fighting a female, per se; he just did not want to face any of the remaining females. One was his sister, who he would never be able to cut loose on. Roma might not be too bad, when he thought about it, but Ronai and Irinia were just a little too…princessy. After months of hard core training, they still cared about things like how their nails and hair looked at the end of a fight.

He'd be forced to pull out a clump of their hair just to prove a point.

"Takyra, Roma, and Ronai will be in a three person group," Kaeyea finished up, "meaning the last pair will be Irinia and Vegeta."

The three girl group exchanged happy little smiles, but Irinia glared furiously at Vegeta. Neither of them was at all happy with that particular pairing.

Kaeyea circled the group again, watching their reactions. "You were selected as such for good reason, even if you do not understand it yet. These partners will last you for the next two months. You will be given five minutes to find a space to begin basic training in." With that, she broke through the ring and clearly indicated that the clock was running.

The two eldest boys walked away, jovially talking amongst themselves, as did the three girl group. Shishki approached Jaikan, hissed at him, and stalked over to a corner, silently willing her partner to follow.

Vegeta and Irinia glared at each other, neither one of them willing to move for the other, and each one sizing up the other as an opponent.

Irinia's golden eyes narrowed as she looked the little prince up and down. He was almost two years younger than she was, and two inches shorter, but he was going to be a handful. His people were known, above all else, for their quality as warriors. Kaeyea, the most powerful person she had ever met, was proof enough of that. She had watched Vegeta carefully since they first ticked each other off. He was strong, quick, agile, and if she didn't know better, she'd swear that his favorite tactic was playing with someone's head.

She was not looking forward to it.

Across from her, Vegeta's own dark eyes analyzed the princess who stood across from him. Longer limbs would give her a slight advantage, but he could easily compensate for that. He had been expecting an opponent taller than he was. Roma and Takyra, after all, were the only ones smaller than he was. Irinia was cunning, though, and it was no secret that she was a teleporter. That ability to swing in one place and connect with another was going to be tricky.

"Right here?" he coolly asked.

"Fine by me," the pretty little princess responded with a deadly glare.

Kaeyea scanned the groups carefully, a smirk on her face. They were all reacting just as she had predicted, and it privately amused her. She and the other guardians had thought long and hard about who was to be paired up with whom. The older boys were paired up because they were both extremely powerful, but neither had mastered the ability to full control that power. If they were paired with the younger ones, someone was going to be snapped in two.

Shishki, wild and aggressive, lacked personal control. She had a tendency to let her emotions get the better of her in battle and to thrash out wildly. Jaikan was her opposite in every way. Shy, quiet, always thought at least three moves ahead in a fight. He was borderline repressed with his emotions. His power level was not so high as Shishki's, but he had agility and control on his side. They needed each other. They would both be forced to adapt.

Takyra, Roma, and Ronai were going to be an interesting set to watch. The three of them were the closest friends of the group, but Kaeyea was not at all worried about them holding back against each other. Friends or not, all three of them wanted to come out on top. Takyra was the fastest by a fair amount, Roma held the advantage of mobility, and Ronai…well, Ronai could set things on fire just by thinking about it.

That was a hell of an advantage in a fight.

The truly interesting set would be the last one. Two stubborn, cunning, determined children who could barely stand to be in the same room…

_They_ were going to be fun.

/////

Seven hours later, nine battered children limped their way toward the infirmary. Each and every one of them needed medical attention. There had been no rules, restraints, or restrictions of any kind in those seven hours, and they had let each other have it.

And it hurt.

Kaeyea was already waiting for them by the time they got there. "Okay, here is the order you will go in: burns are going to be treated by table one, deep gashes will be treated at table two, concerns about ruptured organs will be addressed at table three, and dangling limbs and broken bones will be at table four. Go to where you need the most immediate attention."

Instantly, the young fighters broke apart. Takyra made a beeline for table one, with burns covering most of her arms, her upper back, and parts of her face. Both of her opponents were fire handlers. She had not stood much of a chance. Shishki also went to that table, having been struck by what Roma insisted, with a less than innocent look, was an off target fireball.

Jaikan, torn well open by his opponents claws, was hogging table two, the four oldest boys had all managed to get hit hard in the kidneys and were thus at table three, and last but not least sat Irinia and Vegeta over by table four.

Irinia glared at the boy that injured her. "I hope you can do better than that tomorrow," she taunted with a sneer as her broken hand was reset.

The Saiyan prince snorted. "If you believe that you were victorious today," he shot back, "you need to have your head examined."

"Your left arm is barely attached," the golden princess pointed out triumphantly. "And I don't know if you noticed, boy, but you can't see out of your damaged right eye socket because I shattered it."

"Six broken bones in your right hand, four broken bones in the left, fractured radius and ulna in the right hand, fractured tibia and fibula of your right leg, fractured left patella, broken nose, hairline fracture in your jaw, five fractured ribs, and a chunk of hair missing from behind your right ear," he retorted. "By my count, you lost."

Irinia's eyes narrowed dangerously, and she kicked out left leg. A small golden circle seemed to envelop it, and a second later a matching light appeared under Vegeta's jaw, with the foot coming through strongly.

"OW!" Vegeta bit out, cradling his broken jaw.

Kaeyea, who had been tending to Takyra's burn wounds, shook her head and tried to hide the smirk on her face. _Had that one coming_, she thought with an internal chuckle. "The nine of you are to spend tomorrow and the day after healing," she commanded, still working diligently on her youngest charge. "Make sure you are prepared."

All nine of the young ones gave some form of acknowledgement, each one secretly grateful for two days of rest.

After all, how hard could a little studying be?


	5. Chapter 5

Vegeta walked into the study room. He stood tall and proud, glaring down the others. The little prince kept his body between his sister and the other students, ensuring that she was only near himself and the wall.

Beside him, Takyra rolled her eyes. "I am fine, brother," she pointed out. "They are not a threat to me."

Under veiled lashes, Vegeta spared his sister a brief glance before going straight back to watching all of the others.

"Vegeta," the princess insisted, trying to move around her brother, "they are not going to hurt me in an academic setting. We are here to learn…" As she was blocked, she pushed her brother hard to get him to move, "…and they are my friends!"

On Vegeta's other side stood Roma and Ronai. They giggled with one another and reached for Takyra, trying to help her get free. "Paranoid much?" Roma taunted, jumping over a leg swipe.

"Sorry, Veg-head," Ronai laughed, hoisting Takyra away, "she's with us!"

The young prince snarled and held on to his sister's arm, refusing to let go. "She stands with me!"

As she got jerked from side to side, Takyra hollered. "Ow! Okay, if you could let go of my burn wounds, that would be wonderful!" she shouted. Though they had been medically taken care of and perfectly wrapped, they were still fairly painful when three people were tugging at them.

The girls immediately let go, and Vegeta made sure to change his grab to an uninjured area before putting his sister back where she had been. Protectively, he spread his limbs out to protect her from being grabbed again.

Takyra groaned and nudged her older brother. "You know, this will be much easier, brother, if you actually stand down and let my friends be with me!"

"They hurt you," he quietly, but harshly, responded.

"It was a training exercise," the younger sister pointed out, delicately sliding aside. "We have been injured far more in our own training than these two will ever be able to."

"Hey!" the two redheads simultaneously called out, both offended that combined they were still inferior to a single Saiyan woman.

Takyra smirked at them, giving them a look implying that she had spoken true. "Vegeta," she gently said, gaining his eye contact, "we are here to form relationships with our fellow nobles. I am working toward that goal, to further the strength of our empire when we are adults."

Vegeta once again looked his sister's way. "Liar," he grunted. "You just want to play."

"Yep!" the little girl agreed. Without any of her previous delicacy or diplomacy, Takyra shoved her brother aside and immediately joined her friends. "I'm not abandoning you," she explained, standing with the girls. "I'm just expanding my horizons."

With a huff, Vegeta muttered, "Whatever," taking a seat in the back corner by the wall. He did not like to leave any more sides exposed than he had to, and for the first time since their arrival, he did not force Takyra to do the same.

Ronai rolled her eyes. "I can't believe there are only three of us here with personalities," she giggled.

Takyra looked at her and shook her head. "My brother actually does have a personality," she defended, "and a fairly fun one at that. We are just not accustomed to meeting so many new people for such a long time."

"You seem to be adapting well," Ronai pointed out. "Why can't he?"

Beside them, Roma looked back at the young prince. "It probably comes from being the only boy not even close to puberty," she sympathetically said. "The next youngest boys not only have him by five years but are twins. They talk to each other and that's it."

Takyra also spared her brother a glance, suddenly feeling guilty for choosing new friends over family. "Maybe I should go back…"

"Nonsense!" Roma interrupted, brushing past the other two girls. "You don't need to go to him. He'll come with us!"

The other two exchanged nervous glances. "Um, Roma?" Takyra hesitantly intervened. "Vegeta's really not the type to…"

But it was too late. The fiery redhead was already upon her prey. "Hi," she bluntly began. "I know you already know this, but I'm Roma, I'm half Saiyan, and I hang out with your sister. The part you don't know is that I hang out with you, too."

Vegeta shot the girl a deadly glare. "Clearly, you are out of your mind," he snipped.

"No I'm not," the girl firmly said, sitting right beside the prince. "I have decided that I will be your friend."

The prince gave the girl an unreadable look. "I knew I wasn't going to like you," he muttered.

"You will in the end," Roma responded with confidence.

"It is not a single person's decision," Vegeta countered, returning to the topic at hand. "Your ideals of friendship are only achieved if both parties are interested. I am clearly _not_ interested, meaning you are not my friend."

Roma shook her head, not flinching at all. "True, it's a two way street," she did concede, "but you're going to have to either accept me or leave, because I've made up my mind and I'm not going to change it. You just watch me."

Vegeta's eyes narrowed even further, but cringed slightly as he subconsciously clenched his jaw. His Saiyan metabolism and healed the majority of the fracture the blonde princess had given him the previous day in the medical room, but it was still on the tender side. "Move," he darkly commanded. "That seat is for Takyra."

"First come, first serve," Roma casually responded, easing into the chair. "If you want me to leave, you're going to have to make me."

The prince was on his feet like a shot, but a clearing throat stalled his actions. The occupants of the room quickly identified the noise and immediately took the nearest seat available. When Kaeyea made that sound, it was the signal to get into their starting positions as quickly as mortally possible. She had proved early on to be the strictest of the adults. Her expectations were high and her repercussions were higher.

The strict Saiyan woman began her lecture, and every young royal paid close attention. The lesson for the day was one of espionage, a topic that intrigued almost all of them.

"You will be divided into two teams," the stern woman informed them, having completed her initial lecture. "Each team will be given a piece of technology. You are in charge of protecting your own while trying to steal the other's. If you sneak in and are caught, you lose. If you try to hack a system and are caught, you lose. If in any way, shape, or form you get caught infiltrating, you lose. If the other team succeeds, you lose." She marched over to the wall and posted something, backing away. "These are your teams. Team A will report to hangar one, Team B will report to hangar two." Her speech done, she left the room to prepare for the test.

As soon as they were no longer supervised, all eleven royals jumped up and rushed for the chart. A blinding golden light told all of them the Irinya had teleported to the front. "You cannot be serious!" she screeched. "This is completely unfair!"

"Sucks to be you," Roma muttered, ducking under the legs of the tall boys and shoving the princess out of the way. "Now move your big head!" Her blue eyes scanned down the chart and a wicked smirk appeared quickly. "Oh, this is going to get interesting…" She moved away swiftly, knowing perfectly well that the others were not shy about trying to get to the chart.

The redhead hopped up to where she had been. "Hey, Ronai!" she called out, moving out of the room. "You, me, and Veg-head in hangar two!"

"Stop calling me that!" Vegeta bellowed, chasing after her.

Back in the room, Takyra paled. "I'm not on your team?" she asked.

Ronai shrugged, following her teammates. "I guess not," she casually replied, leaving the youngest of the royals behind.

Five minutes later, all of the young students were all in their assigned areas. In each, a screen lit up, showing the face of one of the guardians. "You are well aware of the nature of this assignment," she coolly spoke. "You will be given one hour to plan out your strategy before the game officially begins. You are permitted to use anything that is already in your work space. You may not commandeer other materials." The screen switched over showing a countdown, indicating that their time had begun, and the teams immediately stepped into action.

Team A in hangar one immediately began throwing around ideas, each one arguing that their idea was the best. The loudest voice came from Irinya, insisting that it was as simple as allowing her to teleport in, grab the damn thing, and teleport out. Several of her teammates argued that she lacked the experience to pull it off, and it nearly resulted in a full blown brawl.

However, Team B was being oddly subdued, particularly considering the group. Standing alongside the worktable were Roma, Ronai, Vegeta, Jaikan, and Zierke, each one studying what they had to work with.

"They have the teleporter," Vegeta said after about a minute. "That will likely factor in to their strategy."

"Almost certainly," Jaikan agreed. "We need to be able to strike the moment that our time is up."

The two redheads nodded. "Agreed," they said simultaneously. Ronai picked up a bottle and considered it for a moment. "This can dull certain senses," she thought out loud. "Maybe we could use this to..."

"No," Vegeta interrupted, not bothering to let her finish. "That's too obvious."

The crimson girl huffed. "Why?" she demanded. "What's wrong with it?"

The little Saiyan glared right back at her. "If your senses were dulled, you'd immediately think something was wrong," he shot. "They'll know we're about to make our actual move in a heartbeat."

A few more ideas were pitched out, but they were all shot down for one reason or another.

Zierke shook his head, staring at their equipment. "What in the name of the gods could we create with this, though?" he wondered out loud. He understood that his technical skills were not the best, but he honestly could not see any benefit in any of the materials they had been provided.

Vegeta glanced around the room and narrowed his eyes. He approached their designated safekeep and glared at it. It was a ship of some kind, one that was far larger than any of the viable access points they were going to have. It only stood to reason that the other team would be defending something equally large. Frustrated, he rapped his knuckles on the side of it, preparing to walk away, but he stalled. Zierked approached, and they stared up at it. Again, Vegeta rapped his knuckles on it. A wicked smirk crept up his face. "I have an idea…"

/

Takyra nervously watched her supposed allies as they fought with one another. She knew perfectly well that she was intelligent, and as the smallest and lightest of them all, it would be easiest for her to slip in and out of an area unnoticed.

However, she had never actually been completely separated from her brother before. Even during the occasions when they stood in separate rooms, there had always been some form of mental connection between the two. That day, though, he had managed to completely shut her out. It was the emptiest feeling she had ever experienced.

Not only did she not have her brother, but the only two she called her friends were also on the opposing team. She had not formed any form of bond with anyone on her team, and had no idea how to interact with them. As a young princess, she had not exactly had an active social life, and her skills with new people were feeble.

They were particularly stilted against such titans of will. The golden Irinya and the catlike Shishki had clearly established themselves as the most aggressive. Dorgian was physically powerful, but he seemed on edge when others were fighting and was clearly out of his comfort zone. Zarbon and Jeice, both refusing to take orders from young females, fought with the two furious princesses.

Keeping as quiet as possible, little Takyra made her way over to the corner of the supply table. Perhaps, if she was lucky, she could at least provide adequate defense as the rest of her team fell apart.

/

Ronai stared at the work being done in front of you. "You are all insane," she muttered. "This is the craziest plan I have ever heard in my life."

"Aw, those are the best ones!" Roma chuckled, focusing on her work. "If it's not insane, your enemy will consider it as an option. It's the absurd that they are never prepared for!"

Zierke paced around their treasure, clearly the designated protector. "I must admit," he called out, "I am interested to see how this will pan out."

Jaikan adjusted his goggles and studied what they had been working on. "It is not the greatest model I have ever created," he admitted, "but considering what we've been working with, I am damn impressed." He quickly stood up and handed it off to the Saiyan prince. "Good luck."

"I don't need luck," Vegeta smirked, tucking their prize away. He glanced up at the screen and once again smirked. "Okay, next step..."

/

From up in the control room, the guardians watched with great interest. It was obvious that the second team was far more organized, but they honestly could not figure out what their plan was. They had kept their voices low and banded around whatever their secret weapon was, preventing visual access to anyone outside of the circle.

"What is that boy of yours up to?" one of the guardians asked the Saiyan woman.

Kaeyea simply sat back and smirked. She had no idea what he was doing, but if she knew that boy, it was going to be great. Vegeta was well known for being a gifted fighter, but very few knew how remarkably mischievous he truly was.

It was definitely going to be fun to watch…


	6. Chapter 6

Ronai glanced over to Roma apprehensively. "Do you think this is going to work?" she softly asked.

Before the half-blood redhead could answer, Vegeta barked out, "Of course it will!"

With a shake of her head, Roma leaned in toward her best friend and whispered, "Gee, if only he had a little self-confidence!"

Although Vegeta wanted to go over and tear into the two redheads, he knew that time was of the essence. They could see the clock ticking down, and they only had a few minutes left to put their plan into action.

"Listen, you relentless chore of a girl, why don't you make yourself useful and go grab the last parts we need?" he bit out.

Roma stuck her tongue out at the little prince, but she did comply. She was significantly more laid back than anyone else in the compound, and definitely the most playful, but she still loved to win. In fact, despite her fun loving nature, Roma was one of the most competitive.

She was nice, she was kind, and she could play like the best of them. But come Hell or high water, she would win.

/

Up in the control room, the guardians watched with curiosity. They were still unable to figure out exactly what the young royals of Hangar B were up to. They were clearly organized, and they obviously had a plan, but they were doing a fantastic job of keeping their progress as far under the radar as they could. The only time voices could be heard was when someone was using vague terminology or not talking directly about their project.

Even in their youth, they understood the importance of secrecy. They had a lower average age than the other group, and all of the young royals were known for being stubborn and proud, but that one group had formed a powerful, if temporary, alliance.

As Kaeyea watched, keeping her focus on Hangar B, Roma floated up toward the camera with a small tool in her hand. Without a moment's hesitation, the young girl jimmied the camera out of the wall, and Kaeyea's screen went dark.

"What the hell?" the guardian asked, mostly to herself. What could that group want with a camera? She made a mental list of the inventories the children had been left with, and she could not place anything in there that could focus as any form of monitor. Without anything like that, what good would the camera do them?

She shifted around to look at the screen monitoring Hangar A. The others were just barely forming some semblance of a plan, but time was almost out and they were nowhere near prepared. They were still fighting with one another, not one of them willing to concede a single point to another.

Kaeyea watched the clock above the arguing children as it ticked away. She could not wait to see what happened when the time ran out.

/

Takyra lowered herself down back to the floor. As her teammates had been busy screaming at one another, she had taken what few defensive measures she could. She might not have been the most cunning strategist in the group, but she was good friends with two of her opponents and had known a third all her life. Her knowledge of their traits and patterns gave her a few guesses at what they might be planning.

She had gone to the air vents and sealed them off as well as she could, using her ki to weld sheet metal over them. True, it meant a lack of airflow through the facility, but there was plenty of air in the room for the time being, and it would not be hard to pull the covers off.

The girl had wanted to do the same with the doorway, but her theoretical allies had seen her and yelled at her for being foolish. Takyra, so young and ill-practiced with standing up to anyone who was not her elder brother, had been too embarrassed to go through with it.

Her palms had started to sweat as she watched the clock slowly make its way to the zero hour. If she was right, then the other group would infiltrated the second the time ran out. Vegeta never wasted time with anything, ever. If there was something that he had to do, he did it without hesitation and he did it without rest. And both Roma and Ronai, in their training together, had pushed in their spar the moment it started. They were intense, and Takyra was fairly certain they would strike while the proverbial iron was hot.

The little princess looked around the room, trying to figure out any other possible points of infiltration. She honestly could not figure any other ways to come in other than the air ducts and the door, but she was fairly certain that other entrance points existed. And if they existed, her brother could find them.

Vegeta had a natural talent for finding a way in or out of any room without anyone ever being the wiser. He had once bragged that for every door into a room, he could find three other ways to get in. And he always followed up with a demonstration proving just that.

However, Takyra knew that it was not as simple as getting in and out of a room. There was a massive piece of equipment that the other team was going to try to steal, so finding a microscopic corridor was not going to do her brother any good. In fact, there was no feasible way she could think of to get the ship out of any place other than the front door, and at least that part was going to be watched by the others.

At least she hoped they would...

/

"You ready?" Zierke asked, watching the younger ones. He was a little embarrassed that, despite being the oldest in the crowd, he was only proving to be useful as a guard. However, he was mature enough to realize that he gifts were in physical power, not subterfuge and infiltration.

From the workbench, Jaikan smirked. "You better believe it." The orange skinned boy picked up the makeshift remote control he had fashioned and removed his work goggles. "If the brats are ready..."

"Hey!" Roman shouted, placing her hands on her hips. "I'm not a brat!"

Off on the side, Vegeta snorted, "Have you taken a recent survey?" The Saiyan prince barely managed to duck out of the way of the hammer that was flung at his head, but his still laughed at the girl.

"Anyway," Jaikan went on, rolling his eyes, "assuming that the rest of you can stop acting like children for a moment, then yes, I believe we are ready."

"Good," Ronai responded, her eyes on the clock, "because we start very soon."

All five of them grew silent, keeping their eyes on the clock as time slowly ran out.

They were ready.

/

Hangar A was in chaos. Dorgian had long since given up trying to reason with the younger royals and was sitting in a bit of a pout at the top of the ship they were guarding. Shishki and Irinya were still in a screaming match with one another over who had the superior idea, and blood had been drawn in their 'debate'. Off on the side, Jeice and Zarbon were talking amongst themselves, criticizing and finding fault with the other occupants of the room. And standing in the middle, helplessly watching and not knowing what to do, stood Takyra.

The youngest princess was the only one that noticed when their time ran out. And she did not say a word.

Her terrified eyes stayed on the doors. They had to be the entry point. There was no way any other place could work! Slowly, she began to build up her energy. Even if she had no idea how to steal the craft from the other team, she could at least defend her own.

Time was up, but nothing was happening. Takyra could feel the sweat forming along her brow line. Something was wrong. The other team should have attacked already. There was no way that those guys would waste time.

In her quiet Takyra had easily figured out that the teams had been divvied up almost completely by their levels of neurotic behavior. The only exceptions were herself and Zierke, who she felt had been traded for one another. Hangar A had been all talk and no action, but the little princess was fairly certain that Hangar B had virtually no talk with an anally high level of work. Even Roma, who often came off as relaxed and playful, was obsessive over her work. While all of them wanted to win, and all of them wanted to be the best, they were clearly divided by those who claimed glory and those who worked for it.

That was why it made no sense. Why had nothing happened? Why was nothing different than it had been? Where was the attack?

For several minutes after time ran out, Takyra desperately tried to figure out what was going on. Her team had still accomplished nothing, but the other team had made no sign of infiltration. What the hell was going on?

Suddenly, the intercom crackled to life. "Game over," Kaeyea announced. "You failed."

For the first time, Hangar A fell quiet. "What?" Shishki demanded. "What do you mean we failed? We still have plenty of..." It was only then that she, and the others, realized that they were out of time.

Staring at the empty timer, Irinya let out a blood curdling scream of fury before turning a deathly glare in the direction of the camera. "You cannot fail us!" she bit out to her guardians. "We may not have intercepted their craft yet, but ours is clearly still in the facility! And since not one of us has left the room, you cannot claim that we were caught in an attempted infiltration!"

There was no response for a few seconds, and none of them moved. Quiet was never a good thing. Quiet meant danger that you could not find. There was suddenly a shift in the air, and before any of the children could realize what had happened, Irinya was on the ground, bleeding.

"Do not dare to question me," Kaeyea threatened. "You are nothing here. You are not special. You are not above anything. You have no value. And you are not important. Not here. If you are told you have failed, then you have failed. If you are told that you were not trying, you were not trying. And if you dare to question my authority again, I assure you that the lesson I will teach you will never, ever be forgotten."

With a large amount of power, the Saiyan woman slammed a boot covered foot onto the princess' chest. Slowly leaning forward, her dark eyes narrowed dangerously. "Have I made myself perfectly clear?"

None of the others moved. None of the others spoke a word. Not one of them was willing to go to the aid of the fallen girl. All they could do was watch in fear. They had all been disciplined during their time in the compound. They had all been beaten before. But there was something in the tone, something in the look that spoke far louder than any threat before.

Irinya, bleeding on the floor and feeling the increasing pressure on her chest, trembled. She was a teleporter, and could probably get away for the moment, but she was no so foolish that she believed that her escape would be permanent. The Saiyan would hunt her down.

So she lay there, on the ground, and offered nothing further than a quiet nod. She was proud, but her instinct to survive was coming out even stronger.

Slowly, Kaeyea withdrew her boot from the golden girl's chest. The glare, though, did not go away. It shifted to every other occupant in the room.

"You miserable little brats," she sneered. "All of you have not only failed, but have done so outright. So proud you all are, so blinded by your status on your home worlds that you were utterly crippled. You have been here for so long, and yet not one of you has any regard for any of your peers."

Takyra opened her mouth, wishing to point out that she, in fact, had tried to stay on task, but she closed it promptly. Even if she did believe it to be true, Takyra was wise enough to know when to keep her mouth shut.

Kaeyea scanned the room, making sure that every single child knew that they were not excluded from her lecture. "You pathetic maggots have missed the entire purpose of this exercise," she accused. "You did not even know what it was you were protecting!"

While they all wanted to know what the woman was talking about, none of the children dared to question her. All they were able to do was mutely nod, and follow in silence as she motioned for them to follow.

The victorious team was already in the lecture hall, each with a smug look on their young faces. They had not just won, they had massacred the other team. And not one of them looked even remotely afraid. Whatever the true nature of the challenge had been, they had figured it out and executed it perfectly.

"SIT!" the Saiyan woman commanded. The other guardians were standing stoically in the front of the room, and Kaeyea was in total control. "Hangar A Team, do you have any idea at _all_ what the purpose of this exercise was?"

The room fell disturbingly silent, and even the once cheerful winning team grew somber at the tone. Suddenly, it felt like they were all in trouble.

"Well?" the tall, intimidating woman snapped. "Do you?"

Slowly, and extremely reluctantly, Takyra raised her hand in the air. Kaeyea glared at the little princess and demanded a response. With a gulp of what little saliva was in her mouth, Takyra stood to her feet and leveled her chin. "We were meant to work as a single, impenetrable unit," the little Saiyan answered, her voice far more calm than her actual feelings. "It was meant as an opportunity to learn how to utilize our differing strengths in order to accomplish a difficult mission."

Kaeyea snorted, pacing around the group of frightened children. "So you _did_ understand the point," she accused. "And in spite of that knowledge, you have _failed_, in _every_ sense, to actually do a damn thing about it!"

The princess flinched before sitting down.

"You were separated based on your theorized levels of your desire to be victorious," she angrily told them. "All of you like to win. Most of you are incompetent at it."

It was a slap in the face to every member of the losing team. On their home world's, they had been the best at all they wished to try. They had been pampered and spoiled and placed in the best of care, and had been trained only by the greatest of teachers. The mere concept of 'losing' was one most of them had never experienced in their lives.

Suddenly being told that it was all they could do made them want to retaliate, to argue that they were the greatest members of their fantastic races, but Kaeyea's threatening tone earlier had all of them holding their tongues.

No one would save them in that place.

"Out of all of you," the Saiyan darkly lectured, still stalking a predatory circle around the group, "only _one_ of you actually took hands to the object in the center of the hangar. Only _one_ of you gave _any_ thought of inspection to what was meant to be held as sacred, and even _he_ did it out of frustration, not careful consideration!"

Her circle tightened in, and the young ones could feel the anger radiating off of her.

"It was through _coincidence_ that you noticed that the ship was a decoy," she accused them. "By sheer _luck_ it was felt to be hollow, inspiring further inspection. But not a damn _one_ of you actually _thought_ about analyzing what you were meant to _defend_!"

Every knuckle on every child whitened as they suddenly became acutely aware of where they had failed. None of them had actually thought about inspecting the ship before Vegeta had inadvertently discovered that it was hollowed out.

Kaeyea pulled out a small, metallic canister from her pocket, still circling the children. "The team in Hangar B was fortunate to discover that the ship was nothing more than a façade, and they worked together to hunt this down. They used their unique skill sets to form a small, controllable magnet that they were able to maneuver through the base under the door, moved it to the ship, turned it on, attached to the small container, and got out through the air ducts without a single member of Hangar A noticing."

Before she could control herself, Takyra said, "What?" The urge had been too great. She had been so sure that she had covered all the air ducts, and she had honestly wanted to know what she had missed. Regardless of reason, though, it was a horrible mistake.

As her hands slapped over her mouth, the heads of the others snapped in her direction. Vegeta's eyes had never been wider as he stared at his sister. They knew Kaeyea better than any of the others, and insubordination was something that the woman had zero tolerance for. Their worst beatings in the past had come strictly from questioning her authority.

And Takyra had done just that with the woman already furious.

"Hangar B Team, you are free to go," she commanded, glaring at the princess. "Hangar A Team, you will report to me in two hours exactly. You," she darkly spoke, pointing to Takyra, "and you," pointing at Irinya, "come to me. Now."

As Takyra stood to meet her fate, Vegeta pulled her back by the shoulder. "Hey, I'll…"

That was as far as he got in his offer before he was slammed against the wall. "You can't save her," Kaeyea counseled, though her tone was just slightly more gentle in his ear. "She needs to stand alone for her mistakes."

"Then punish me along with her," he demanded, deliberately goading her on with is tone.

But the Saiyan knew what he was doing. Even more than Takyra feared her punishment, Vegeta feared her facing it alone. She was the only one that he cared about, and he would take her pain without a moment of hesitation to spare her. He always had, and unless he was broken of it, he always would.

They had been separated for the mission deliberately. Neither one had truly done anything without the other, but where Vegeta had been strong enough to stand on his own and still function with a new group, Takyra had been rendered helpless.

Kaeyea let go, stepping back as the little prince spat out a mouthful of blood. She had hit him before, and she had never regretted it. But keeping him blocked from his sister, having him know she was in pain, was downright cruel.

But it had to be done. A lesson needed to be learned.

"Go," she commanded him. "There is nothing you can do here."

Vegeta glared at her, betrayal in his eyes. Keeping him from his tortured sister was more than he thought he could stand. It was worse than receiving the torture himself. His gaze switched from betrayal to determination, and he opened his mouth to earn himself a spot on the punishment circuit.

He never got a word out before his guardian rendered him unconscious with a violent blow.

He could not save his sister.


	7. Chapter 7

Vegeta groaned as he opened his eyes. He had not had any defenses up before being struck, and his body was readily chiding him for that foolishness. A second later he remembered how he had gotten in that position, and his eyes grew enormous.

"Takyra!" he called out. He immediately winced, his head pounding from both the force of being brought down and his sudden movements.

A hand was placed on his shoulder, but he quickly shook it off. "Get away from me!"

"Whoa!" Roma responded, grabbing him again. "You need to calm down!"

"Do not dare to presume that you can tell me to calm down!" he retaliated, once again shaking himself free. "Now get the hell away from me and tell me where she is!"

Roma reached out, more determined than ever, and grappled the frantic young prince. "Listen," she grunted, "she's still in there. We can't get to her yet."

"Let me go!"

"No!" the redhead firmly stated, barely maintaining her grip on the thrashing boy. "She said that if you went in, it would be worse! I won't let you do that!"

The boy suddenly stopped moving, though his body remained extremely tense. "Kaeyea said that?" he asked.

Roma nodded, somehow forgetting that she was behind him and he could not see her. "Yeah," she affirmed. "So I'm not going to let you go until I know you're not going to make it worse!"

Barely maintaining his composure, Vegeta shrugged the girl off. "I would never do anything to harm her," he growled at the girl. He glanced around the room they were in and frowned when there was no timepiece in there. "How long..."

"A while," Roma interrupted, circling around to face the prince head on. She glanced in the direction her friend had been taken away to and frowned. "I hope she's okay."

"She's not," Vegeta quietly answered. His eyes seemed to be out of focus as he spoke, and Roma took a step closer to him, studying his face.

"What are you doing?" she curiously asked, her nose only inches from his.

The young prince immediately snapped back into focus, and he snarled at the girl in front of him. He shoved her, simultaneously taking a large step away. "It is no concern of yours!"

Very patiently, Roma approached the boy and patted her shoulder with her hand. "Vegeta," she gently began, "I want you to know that I say this with as much respect as possible." She offered his shoulder and gentle squeeze and gave him a smile. "You need to pull the stick out of your ass, or I'm going to do it for you and beat you to death with it."

Vegeta swung violently for the girl's head, but she had predicted his response and gotten a fair distance away from his strike. The head start served her well as the prince chased her through the hallways, and she laughed all the way. Both children were extremely agile and literally jumped off the walls in the chase.

"I am going to kill you!" the boy roared, hunting his prey.

Roma, however, did not seem to be intimidated at all. "You can't kill me if you can't catch me! No energy blasts in the dorm section!"

Letting out another growl, Vegeta pounced for all he was worth. He did not manage to tackle her completely, but he did manage to grab her ankle. He yanked on it as hard as he could, causing the girl to fall face forward.

The redhead let out a small yelp as she fell, but she managed to recover well enough. With one hand placed on the ground, Roma used her free leg to kick at her attacker. Vegeta was quick, though, and managed to slide out of the way without forfeiting his grip on her. Roma shifted her weight quickly, throwing herself back against the boy and throwing him off his center of balance. While it did manage to startle the boy slightly, Vegeta used her closeness to lock his arms around her. Roma grunted and kicked back, taking full advantage of the fact that her legs were both free.

The two fought wildly against each other for several minutes, not pulling back on a single blow. Skin broke open, barely healed wounds were aggravated, and neither one of them cared. Roma had quickly abandoned her playful nature, letting her competitive, if not blood thirsty, side take over. With just as much ferocity as the prince she was fighting, she tore into her enemy and showed no mercy at all.

All of a sudden, both were thrown against the wall. "Knock it off, you two!" Zierke scolded, physically forcing the two of them apart.

Vegeta was too mad, though, to bow out of the fight. Without any further hesitation, the young one pounced on his newly acquired target. He was smaller and he was weaker, so he had to rely on their heightened speed and agility. Roma quickly realized that the younger boy was overwhelmingly outclassed and rushed in to aide him, their former feud forgotten by her. However, neither of them had ever actually fought against someone with such power in a non-controlled environment, and Vegeta was not at all prepared for the force of the blow that landed on his chest.

Roma shrieked when she saw the impact. Even as his body was still in the air, it was clearly a catastrophic blow to Vegeta's body. When he hit the ground, he did not get up.

"Vegeta!" the girl screamed, rushing to his side.

Zierke quickly dropped to a knee, trying to assess the damage. "Oh, shit..."

At the sound of the ruckus, the other students began to poke their heads into the hallway, curious of the situation. Around the corner they approached, forming a very cautious circle around the three others.

"By the gods," Ronai whispered, placing her hand over her mouth. "What happened?"

"Vegeta?" Roma asked again, looking down at the fallen prince. "Vegeta, can you hear me?"

The young Saiyan twitched, but he could not actually answer. His chest was quickly filling with blood, and he found himself rendered utterly incapable of speech. His body spasmsed, and blood was leaking freely from the corners of his mouth.

Roma turned to the gathering crowd, fear and anger in her eyes. "Don't just stand there, you morons!" she shouted. "Go get help!"

Ronai was the first to respond, and she raced down the hallway as fast as her legs could carry her. She was quickly overtaken by Shishki as the catlike princess used all four of her limbs to propel herself faster. They broke off, Ronai going left and Shishki going right, desperately hoping to find an adult to help.

As she raced down her hall, Ronai saw a door burst open, and she made a beeline for it. "Emergency!" she cried. "We need help!"

Her words were never heard, for Kaeyea was already sprinting for the scene of the accident. The Saiyan woman was in front of the children in no time, and wasted no time with gentleness as she shoved the onlookers aside.

"What the hell happened?" she demanded, assessing the damage done.

Roma looked like she wanted to cry. "Vegeta and I were sparring down the halls," she explained, her voice extremely shaky, "and Zierke separated us, and Vegeta started to fight him, and...and..."

"I hit him," Zierke quietly admitted. "In the chest."

Kaeyea tore open the shirt on the fallen boy, and her eyes widened noticeably. "Shit," she muttered, fully able to see the damage. A large section of the chest was discolored, there was obvious damage to the sternum, and she was certain that the boy was bleeding into his chest.

"Shit, shit, shit," she repeated. Pulling out her boot knife, she yelled at the on looking crowd, "I need the fastest one of you to get to the medical bay. Tell them we have a top level emergency and that we need immediate help. Go."

A voive from the crowd asked, "Who…"

"_NOW!_" the woman commanded, slicing into the boy's chest. She paid no attention to exactly which one of them took off, only that one of them did. Blood gushed over her hand at a far faster rate that in should have, given the depth of the opening, and Kaeyea growled. "Son of a bitch," she snarled. As she tried to alleviate the pressure and find exactly where the major damage was, she was genuinely worried about how the hell they were even going to get the boy down to the medical bay fast enough. If she dared to pick him up, he would likely bleed out before they even got there. But if they did not manage to get him help within the next minute, there was no way the boy would survive.

As she continued her hunt, the Saiyan woman realized that there was an open wound to one of the major arteries in the boy's heart. "Damn it," she growled. She lacked the tools needed to properly fix it, but using her long and nimble fingers to try to close the gap, she was able to at least stop the hemorrhaging from the organ. Color was draining from the boy's face and at the rate he was losing blood, Vegeta would easily die within the next minute.

From the corner of her eye, Kaeyea noticed a golden flash. "Thank the gods," she muttered, fully looking up at the teleporter. Irinya's guardian had come, and Kaeyea was not going to waste a golden opportunity. "Med bay," she commanded, keeping her hand inside Vegeta's chest. She kept her eyes on her young charge's face, not even fully aware of when they reached their new location until she noticed other hands reaching out for the child's body. Her hand did not leave its post as Vegeta was lifted onto a hospital table, meticulously ensuring that as little blood as possible left his system.

"Kaeyea," one of the other adults calmly spoke, already suited for surgery, "when I count to three, I need you to let go and let me take over."

The Saiyan nodded, waiting with baited breath for the command. Her weight rested in the balls of her feet, ready to spring out of the way as she listened to the count down.

"One…two…three."

Even before her hand had fully left Vegeta's chest, Kaeyea saw the gush of blood pouring out. The others quickly got in her way, working quickly to save the boy's life, leaving the Saiyan woman with nothing to do but pray that the young prince would be alright.

/

The light was blinding. It seemed to burn straight through his eyes and straight into his brain. Vegeta groaned, just barely starting to crack his eyes open into the offending light. In a rare moment of exhaustion, the Saiyan prince gave up and closed his eyes, unwilling to face the light.

"Good morning, sunshine."

Letting out another groan, Vegeta tilted his head slightly to the side and forced his eye to open by a slit. That damn redhead was there again. "Are you stalking me?" he growled. "Because it seems like every time I wake up, you're watching me."

Roma gave a small smile and a shoulder shrug. "What can I say?" she softly teased, though with not nearly as much merriment as she had earlier. "You're just that much fun."

Vegeta tried to sit up, but he quickly realized that he was strapped down in his bed. "What the hell is all this?"

All pretenses of happiness were dropped from the demi-Saiyan's face. "Don't you remember?" she sadly asked. "You attacked Zierke and he clobbered you."

"Boy, do you know how to make a guy feel better," the prince sneered.

"Well, it's true!" Roma retaliated, shouting in the injured boy's face. "For crying out loud, Geta, what the hell were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that my name isn't Geta, so don't call me that!" Vegeta shot back.

The redhead growled, throwing up her hands in frustration. "I swear to anything and everything that can hear me, you are the most maddening person I have ever met in my life! You almost died, and the only thing you can say to me is that you don't like your nickname?"

Vegeta scowled and looked to the side. "It was not that bad."

"Oh, really?" the girl sneered, approaching the bed. "That's why you've got tubes running out of your chest? Because it wasn't that bad?"

Glancing down, Vegeta noticed for the first time that there were, in fact, several tubes running underneath the bandages that were covering his chest. It made him shiver slightly as he realized just how bad it had been, but he was too proud to let too much more than that show. "So what?" he nonchalantly responded. "I lived."

"Yeah, 'cause you got lucky."

Vegeta's eyes widened at the new voice, and he slowly turned his head toward it. "Hey," he casually greeted.

Takyra did not seem amused. "You're insane, you know that?" she shot.

"Not you, too…"

"Yes, me too!" his younger sister shot. "When you got hit, I blacked out! Then I come to on a gurney only to be told that my moronic older brother decided to take a swing at someone ten times stronger than he is and has gotten his heart opened up!"

Vegeta sneered. "I was mad, okay?" he shouted at Takyra. "I was mad, he was there, and I couldn't get to _her_, so I went after him."

Takyra circled around the bed, joining Roma on the other side. "Vegeta," she practically begged, her voice suddenly much softer than it had been just a moment earlier, "you're one of the smartest people I've ever known. What made you so mad that you could do something so foolish?"

The prince looked away, refusing to make eye contact with either of them. "Nothing."

Neither of the girls was buying it. "Vegeta," Roma responded, rolling her eyes, "it was obviously something."

"No it wasn't."

"Yes it was."

"No it wasn't!"

"Yes it…"

"Oh, you two need to stop that _right_ now," Takyra interrupted, covering her ears to prove her point. She turned to the redhead at her side and gave her a serious look. "Hey, do you think I could talk to my brother for a minute? Like, alone?"

Roma really wanted to stay and hear a legitimate answer, but she respected her friends enough to give them the space they needed. As she passed him to get to the door, she shot a glare at the bedridden prince. "This isn't over."

Vegeta sneered at the retreating redhead, but he gave no verbal response. The next move was going to have to be up to his sister.

Taking a seat on the corner of the bed, Takyra looked her big brother in the eye. "You did it because of me, didn't you?" she softly asked. When he gave no response of any kind, she placed a hand on his bare shoulder. "Vegeta, we need to do something about this."

"I don't know what you're talking about," he finally said, though his tone was less than convincing.

"Vegeta, you almost died, and why? Because you were upset because I was getting hurt and you couldn't help me." Takyra shook her head. "We need to find a way for you to not react like that."

"So, what, the next time you're hurt, I'm just not supposed to give a damn?" he shot back.

Takyra managed to maintain her composure. "Vegeta, Kaeyea talked to me while they were saving your life," she patiently explained. "She told me why she punished me as much as she did for my mistake."

Silently, Vegeta took a moment to study his sister. There were bandages coating large portions of her arms, a few on her face, and he was fairly certain that there were several along her back, hidden by her clothing. She really had taken a beating at the hands of their guardian.

"She told me," the girl went on, her voice still level and calm, "that you care too much, and that's your biggest weakness."

"I am not weak!" the prince shouted back. "And I do not 'care too much'."

Takyra shook her head. "Yes, you do. And Kaeyea's right, it is a problem."

"No it isn't."

"Yes, it is!" his sister shouted back. "Vegeta, you almost died because you were so worked up over me taking a little beating that you almost got yourself killed! And not only that, but you're refusing to admit that it's why this happened!"

"Because it's not!" Vegeta defended. "Stop saying that!"

Takyra opened her mouth to keep arguing, but the sound of the door opening made her hesitate. She looked up and watched their guardian enter, and Takyra snapped her mouth shut. The last thing she wanted to do at that moment was risk starting the cycle all over again.

Kaeyea had been listening to them for several minutes, and her face was neutral as she approached the siblings. Her eyes locked with Takyra's, and her arms crossed in front of her chest. "You have permission to leave."

The little girl did not need to be told twice. She did pause long enough to spare her brother a glance on her way out the door. She wanted to stay and make sure he was okay, but she had faith that he would turn out okay in the end.

As soon as they were alone, Kaeyea glared down at her young charge. "You're an idiot."

With anyone else, Vegeta would have been fighting back tooth and claw, but his wits were about him and he respected Kaeyea's power enough to keep his mouth shut. He would take the scolding and get on with his life.

The Saiyan woman did not show any signs of compassion as she glared down at the prince. "I will tell you this once and once only," she darkly threatened. "If you ever, _ever_, pull a stupid stunt like you did today, I will make sure that you are expelled from this program. If you are too weak to control yourself, then you are useless to us here." Her eyes narrowed intensely, an extremely intimidating look on her face. "I do not tolerate weakness of any kind."

That said, the seasoned warrior turned around and walked out on the boy, leaving him alone. Although she thought of him as truly gifted, she had meant every word she had said. A weakness like that was too great to leave open. She would not allow him to stay if he could not get his emotions in check.

And he knew it.


	8. Chapter 8

"This is absurd!" the Saiyan prince cried.

Roma just smiled and gave him a patronizing pat on the cheek, sitting on the corner of his hospital bed. "Those are the breaks, tough guy," she teased. "Kaeyea says you're confined to bed rest for the rest of the week."

Vegeta growled at the redhead before him. "Just what the hell am I supposed to do in bed for a week?"

Shrugging at her seven year old friend, Roma slid off the edge of the bed. "I dunno, read a book or something."

"For a _week_?"

"Geez, Geta, what do you want from me?" the redhead replied. "I'm just the messenger here. Kaeyea's the one who said you can't leave. Be mad at her."

While there was a definite part of the prince that was agitated with his guardian, Vegeta was wise enough to know that saying anything against her would not result in anything good. "Where is my sister?" he finally asked.

Roma squirmed slightly, taking a very noticeable step away from the bed. Rubbing the top of her left arm with her right hand, she turned her gaze away from her bedridden friend. "She isn't coming."

"What?" Vegeta snapped. "Why the hell not?"

"Kaeyea's orders," Roma sullenly informed. "She says you two aren't allowed to see each other until you're all better."

The prince opened his mouth to retaliate, but managed to keep anything from coming out. It was the same as he had been warned about not an hour earlier. Takyra was his weakness, and Kaeyea was going to force that weakness out of him.

With a scowl on his face, Vegeta leaned back in the bed. The restraints had been given a little bit of slack, allowing the boy to sit up slightly but still keeping him physically restricted. "Fine," he sneered. "Did you at least _bring_ me a book?"

Roma's cheeks nearly matched the color of her hair. "Nope," she answered, certainly feeling embarrassed. "Sorry, Geta."

"Why do you insist on calling me that?" he demanded. "That's not my name!"

"It's a nickname, you idiot," the redhead countered. "I have one, you have one, and the planets still rotate in the universe. See? It's fine."

Growling as deep as he could, which was not particularly intimidating given his age, Vegeta glared at the girl beside him. "Why, exactly, did you come here?" he demanded.

"To tell you that you're stuck here and that your sister's not coming," Roma shrugged. "Takyra wasn't allowed to, Kaeyea's busy doing...something, she never really told me what, and none of the others wanted to come." She once again approached the edge of the bed and took a seat on the corner. "As a group, we really suck."

Raising an eyebrow slightly, Vegeta demanded an explanation.

"Seriously?" Roma responded with a chuckle. "You really can't see it?"

It was Vegeta's turn to offer a mild shrug. "I wasn't looking," he admitted.

"Yeah, I get the feeling no one else has either," the redhead returned. "We're supposed to be here to learn how to become strong enough to take down the Kold Empire, but if you ask me, the way we are now, we're screwed."

"Of course we are," Vegeta sneered. "We are children, you moron. We're not supposed to be ready yet."

Roma shook her head. "No, you're not getting it," she sighed. "We need to be strong _together_. The Kold's have so many worlds under then that if we don't team up, there's no way in hell we'll be able to take down all of them."

"Those are the thoughts of a weakling," the prince countered. "Weak thoughts lead to weak actions."

"And arrogance leads to a short lifespan," Roma fought back. "Not one of us will be as strong as the Kold's any time soon, but if we work together, maybe we can get rid of them by the time we're adults. Maybe sooner, if we're really good. But we need all of us and all of the resources we can get. All of the other empires need to band together."

Vegeta frowned at the girl. "We are allies," he pointed out. "We are bound by honor to not wage war against them. And, should the need arise, we will support them."

"But how will you support them if you have no real practice cooperating with them?" Roma countered. "You all are going to inherit empires, but so far true unity is just a pipe dream. How could our people support Irinya's during a revolution if we don't know how to work with or against teleporters?"

"_Our_ people?" Vegeta hollered. "They are _my_ people, you half-breed bitch! Not yours!"

Roma hardly seemed bothered by the outburst. After all, he was still tethered to the bed. "Hey, I may not be all Saiyan," she casually said, smirking at the laid up prince, "but I am half, and therefore am still a part of them. I've been with Rothulians most of my life, and they're cool and all, but I want to know more about my Saiyan side."

Grumbling, Vegeta leaned back against the bed. He was still exhausted from everything that had happened to him, and he had been struggling through the fight with the girl. "It kicks the ass of the Rothulian side," he pointed out. "It is the side that gives you strength."

Roma smirked at the bed ridden boy. "You're certainly confident about that."

"It is a fact," he stated, glaring at the girl. "The Saiyans are the strongest race in the universe. We are natural warriors, bred to fight and conquer. We have the strength to fight our enemies, the endurance to go the distance, and the determination to succeed, no matter what."

"Modest, are we?" the redhead teased. "But you're missing the point, 'Geta. We're here to learn how to act as one unit, not as a dozen cocky brats who will help if we _have_ to. That's the only way we're going to win in the end." She slid a little higher on the bed and once again gave his cheek a pat, but this time it was not condescending in nature. "Just have faith in us, okay, 'Geta? Believe in us and let us show you how good a friendship can be."

Vegeta eyed the girl warily. He had never had friends before. Hell, he had never even been interested in the notion of friends before. He had his sister and his guardian, and while they spent most of their time ignoring him, his parents did exist. That had always been enough for him. Letting in someone new? Someone who had not been there as long as he could remember? Such a bond seemed almost unnatural to him. "What's your angle?" he suspiciously questioned.

"My angle?"

"Your play, your motivation, your agenda," Vegeta bit out. "No one does something like this without wanting something in return."

Roma rolled her eyes, something she found herself doing quite often when in the company of the young prince. "Oh, brother," she groaned. "You want to know what I want, you paranoid, antisocial shut-in? I want every member of the Kold Empire to die and disintegrate away from the universe. Then I want to find a place, call it home, and maybe have a snack. That's it, buddy boy! That's all I want."

"Come on," Vegeta retorted, clearly not believing the girl, "you cannot tell me you have no grander plans."

"Sure I can," Roma fought back. "Watch me: I have no grander plans. I want to help you guys take out the Kold's, but other than that, I just want to live my own life. That's it."

Still skeptical, Vegeta continued to analyze the girl. "So, you mean to tell me that after all is said and done, after we have taken down our enemies, you hold no ambition?"

Shrugging, Roma crossed her arms. "Well, I didn't say that," she countered. "There are lots of things I still want to do in my life, but there's nothing major. I don't want to take over an empire. I don't want to be a queen. I don't want to have people bow to me. The things I want are more, well, _fun_ than that." When she saw the questioning look on the boy's face, Roma's eyebrows shot up. "You don't know what fun is, do you?"

"Of course I do!" Vegeta quickly shouted back. However, there was a very noticeable stain of pink crossing his cheeks. "My sister and I play strategy games all the time."

"Well, yeah," Roma slowly agreed, "I guess that could be fun…" Biting the corner of her lip, the redhead began to glance around the room. She was not sure what she was looking for, but she knew she would not find it staring at the prince. "But is that really the only fun you have?" she sadly asked.

"I spar," Vegeta defended. "That is fun."

A look of pity came over Roma's features as she glanced at the bed ridden boy. "That's it?" she soft asked. "Sparring and strategy games? Are those really the only ways you get to blow off steam?"

"The only ways I what?" Vegeta asked back, not familiar with the expression. "What does exhaling over boiled water have to do with anything?"

Delicately, Roma reached down and grabbed Vegeta's hand. "You know, you really need to get out more," she gently teased, trying to get the tone higher again. "Spend some time with people." As she watched him open his mouth to retaliate, Roma gently pressed a finger against it. "Spend time with people who aren't Takyra or Kaeyea."

"Why would I want to do that?" the prince bickered back. "I hold no need to form connections to anyone else. Besides, I'm not allowed to."

Quirking an eyebrow, Roma squeezed the hand gently. "You're seriously not allowed to talk to anyone other than those two?"

"Not the way you are implying," Vegeta answered honestly. "To give a command is one thing. To engage in fraternization is another." He let off a small shrug, trying to limit how much his chest had to move. "It is not suitable of a king to have commoners as friends."

"Why?"

Vegeta's eyes narrowed. "What?"

"Why?" Roma pushed again. "Why is it a bad thing? What the hell could possibly be wrong with having friends of a different social class?"

The prince wanted to answer, but as her words sunk in, he realized that he could not. He had been told all his life that he had to keep himself separate from the lower classes, that it was unfitting for him to associate himself with laborers or farmers or technicians. But it dawned on him, in that moment, that never once had anyone mentioned why. And the harder he thought on it, the more he realized that he could come up with no valid answer.

Sensing what the silence meant, Roma slid off the bed, offering his hand one last squeeze before disengaging. "I guess it doesn't matter," she eventually said. "If they won't let you do it, they won't let you do it. But if you ever do find out what the reason is, could you let me know?" The boy still seemed lost in his thoughts, and Roma shook her head. "I've got a few things to get done. I'll see you around, 'Geta." She made her way to the door, pausing as she passed through to give him one more glance. "Feel better soon."

The quiet, "Hn," was the only answer she got before she left for her tasks. Vegeta was still stumped by the question, and he found himself wondering more. While he had always had a natural instinct to rebel against authority, he rarely broke rules that he did not find ridiculous in the first place. If a rule made sense to him, or he had nothing to gain by overstepping it, he would do as he was told. In the past, the issue of fraternizing with other classes had never been one he held any concern over. Friends were useless, regardless of their class.

But that annoying redheaded girl brought up a good point. What would be the harm in having an ally at a different level? In fact, would it not be advantageous to do so? They had studied societies, both their own and others, to understand the greatest ways to lead when they ruled. Societies where the ruling class held itself far above the commoners almost always ended in violent revolution and brutal death to the upper class.

Why was he not allowed to have friends of a lower class?

He could not come up with an answer, and that bothered him. Systematically, he began to analyze every rule he had ever known, trying to find the reason in them.

/

"Knock, knock!" Roma called out, not bothering with the actual action as she entered the room. "How are you feeling?"

There was some kind of guttural response from the boy in the bed, but Roma was fairly certain that there were no actual words involved. "Well, aren't you just a bucket of sunshine?"

"Is there a reason you have returned to harass me again?" Vegeta growled.

"Hey, be nice to me," Roma pouted, her hands behind her back. "I come bearing gifts, you little ingrate."

"Huh?"

Roma rolled her eyes and revealed her hands. "Here," she said, approaching the bed gradually. "I didn't want to root through your stuff, and Takyra wasn't there to do it for me, but I brought you one of my books and a notepad." She dropped the book on the prince's lap before flipping the notebook open. "I wrote some brain teasers and puzzles, so that should help you keep yourself busy for a little while."

The prince lay there, speechless. The book was a decent enough act, but going through the trouble of writing down puzzles for him? "Why…why did you do this?"

"Why not?" Roma countered. "I thought about how much it would suck if I was stuck in bed for that long, and puzzles always helped me pass the time, so maybe you'd like them, too." She placed the notebook on the small table at the side of the bed, placing a pen next to it. "If I get a chance, I'll come back and write down more." She shot him a sly look, adding, "If, of course, you can actually solve them."

"Hey!" the prince shouted back. "How dare you say that?"

"Pretty easily," Roma sassed back. "In fact, it kind of rolls right off the tongue." Giving his hair a tousle that was clearly not appreciated, Roma stepped back. "I need to get to the next lesson, but I'll come back and bug you more later, 'Geta." She waved as she backed out the door. "See ya'!"

Still baffled by the upbeat persona, Vegeta slowly reached over and picked up the notebook and the pen. Flipping it open, he studied the first puzzle. He had been expecting something juvenile, solvable instantly and without any effort. However, it quickly became apparent that the redhead was a lot craftier than she usually let on. "Holy crap," he muttered, staring at it. He had been given some challenging puzzles before, but this one seemed to be one of the hardest.

Curious, he flipped the page, checking over the next one. It seemed even more difficult than the first. Another page was turned, and another impossible puzzle presented itself. Page after page after page, puzzles that would push his limits presented themselves and dared to be solved.

The girl was really smart. There was no denying that. Perhaps that was why she had brought him the notebook, to show off her cunning. In an odd way, the thought of her acting out of arrogance rather than kindness was sort of comforting to him. Showing off was a concept he was intimately familiar with, and therefore could understand. Being kind for the sake of being kind seemed wrong. In fact, to him it seemed like a sign of mental disturbance. Giving away things for what, the sake of seeing someone smile? It made no sense at all to him.

Feeling a little more comfortable at the notion, he lay all the way back and studied the first puzzle again. The girl was clever, but he refused to let her claim any form of superiority over him. He was determined to make through every single one of her damn puzzles, and he would do it before the next time she came to annoy the hell out of him.

Prince Vegeta did not take competition lightly.


	9. Chapter 9

Takyra sat at the edge of her bed, a deep frown on her face. It had been four days since the day she had been severely punished for speaking out. Four days had passed since she had experience the worst pain of her life. Four days since her brother had been driven so mad by the thought of being unable to protect her that he had blindly attacked a boy infinitely more powerful in a blind rage. Four days since her brother had been near mortally wounded and left trapped in the infirmary.

Four long, miserable days since she had been allowed to see or talk to him.

Kaeyea had made sure that the two Saiyan children had been cut off from one another completely. Not only were they physically restricted from one another, but they were forbidden to use their gifts with telepathically communicating with one another. Takyra had been foolish enough to reach out for her brother once, but her guardian was on her in an instant, backhanding her for her insolence and telling her that another offense would result in her brother being punished for her crimes. It was a miserable situation, but the Saiyan woman was determined that her two charges be broken of their habits of using one another as a crutch.

The past four days had been maddening to both siblings. They had been side by side with one another and in constant contact since the day Takyra had been born. They were close in age and closer in personality. And after four days of being fully cut off, Takyra felt ready to snap.

She had been exceedingly irritable over the past few days, to the point where the others were starting to talk about it. Even Roma had pulled her aside to ask why she was acting that way, but Takyra, normally more composed than her brother, had cursed at her friend and told her to leave her alone.

The little redhead was, needless to say, not happy about the reaction. However, she did not hold it against her Saiyan friend. She knew that it was not Takyra's fault that she was so agitated. Roma knew well enough that the girl was struggling from the withdrawal of her brother, her lifelong friend and protector. As much of an ass as Vegeta could be, it was a secret to no one that he was always there for his sister. Roma had never had a sibling herself, but it was clear to her that the bond between them was fiercely strong. Even if she had never experienced herself the pain of being taken away from a loved one, she could sympathize with the plight of her friends.

So she stood there, quietly watching as Takyra sat on her bed in a self-imposed exile. At the start of the day, the Saiyan princess had angrily completed her morning tasks, skipped breakfast, and isolated herself as best she could. Roma, though, was never one to let a friend suffer in peace, and had followed the princess. She knew better than to try talking to the girl. It was not worth the brawl that would ensue. But she did remain there, studying her friend intensely in silence.

It was not helping her figure anything out, though. Kaeyea's strict rules were really making it just about impossible to get either member of the Saiyan Royals to perk back up, and that was driving Roma nuts. Takyra was a dear friend of hers, and Vegeta, while not nearly as affectionate as his sister, was still considered by her to be a friend. And if ever there was something the demi-Saiyan could not stand, it was watching her friends be miserable.

With an angry huff, she shot to her feet. Takyra watched out of the corner of her eye as Roma left the room, but she refused to actually move her head. Roma, meanwhile, stormed her way down to the infirmary. She had made a point to go visit the bedridden prince every day, but it had not escaped her that she was his only visitor. Takyra was banned from seeing him. Kaeyea was proving a point.

But the others…they just seemed to not care. And that bothered Roma. A lot.

It was her understanding that the entire reason they were there was to work as a team, but she was yet to see any of the children taking that seriously. It was bad enough when they were simply not socializing on their free time as much as Roma would have preferred, but not bothering to visit an injured comrade? Not offering aid to his upset sister? That was wrong.

Using an unnecessary amount of force, Roma shoved open the infirmary door, startling the prince in bed. "What the hell is your problem?" Vegeta demanded, putting down the notebook.

"You want to know what my problem is?" the redhead demanded. "My problem is this entire damn system! Am I seriously the only one here that sees what's wrong with this picture?"

Vegeta moved the notebook all the way to the bedside table while giving the girl a quizzical look. "Could you narrow that down?" he asked, adjusting himself so he was sitting up a little straighter. Several of the tubes had been removed from his chest over the past four days, thanks to his Saiyan healing, but he was still very limited in his movements.

Growling, Roma jumped on to his bed and crossed her arms, a furious look on her face. "This!" she shouted. "This entire damn process!" She made a silly face and dropped her voice, clearly taking on a mocking tone. "Oh, you're all here to work together, but we're actually just messing with your heads because we're actually having some sick fun pitting you against each other and getting you to hate each other. You're not actually any closer to beating the Kold Empire, but we think it's hysterical to tear you down on every level." Letting out an annoyed shriek, she threw her arms up into the air as she flopped down, lying on top of Vegeta's legs. "This _sucks!_"

Vegeta watched, amazed by the brash girl on top of him. He had often thought the same thing, but he had never dared to voice it out loud. A snarky comment here or there would get him a sound beating, and that was fine with him, but questioning the purpose of their mission? In an area with security cameras? That was damn near suicidal! And yet she had done it, with no care or remorse, the hell with the consequences.

He kind of liked it.

"You know what?" the redhead grumbled, flipping so she could look at him. "We need to shake things up around here."

Vegeta quirked and eyebrow at the girl. "We need to do what now?"

"Shake things up!" she insisted, propping her head up on her hand. "We just bow down and accept all these stupid rules, whether we thing they're right or not. But what the hell good is that going to do us? We need to stand up for ourselves!"

"Are you insane?" Vegeta bit out, trying to keep his angry voice as quiet as possible. "They'll kill us! Or worse, they'll expel us!"

An even deeper frown appeared on Roma's angry face. "You think getting expelled is worse than getting killed?"

"You don't?"

With a small growl, Roma sat all the way up. She had to shake her head to get her long, loose red hair out of her face. "What the hell is wrong with you?" she yelled at the prince. "Of course I don't think that! Geez! Yeah, getting expelled would suck, but it's not like my life's going to end if I don't have the _honor_ of being told I'm pathetic and useless here!" Moving faster than Vegeta could register, the half-breed scurried up on the bed, getting her face right next to his. "Do you even have a brain in there?" she demanded, rapping a knuckle lightly against his forehead. "Hellooooo?"

Vegeta swiped at the girl, furious at her actions, but she was quick enough to dodge his initial strike and he was still partially restrained at the wrists. He could move enough to reach the table with one hand, but not at all beyond that. "Get off me, you obnoxious little brat!"

Roma snorted. "We're the same size, you moron," she taunted. "And in case you forgot, I'm older than you."

"What the hell does that matter?" Vegeta growled. "Just get off!"

Still in a mood, Roma took a seat at the foot of the bed, her legs and arms crossed and a scowl on her face. "You know they're totally singling you out, right?" she snipped.

The rage the prince had felt at the girl waned slightly as he gave her a wary glance. "What are you talking about?" he angrily asked.

"Are you kidding me?" Roma snorted. "They're holding you to a different standard than the rest of us. Think about it! Zierke and Dorgian are absurdly strong, so they let them be the heavy hitters. Jaikan's a nerd, and they let him be a nerd. Zarbon and Jeice are decently well rounded, but they aren't in the top tier in any arena. Ronai remains the only person I've ever met who has accidentally set her bed on fire in her sleep, so they let her focus on that. Irinya and Shishki are allowed to rest on their awesome powers of bitchiness, and Takyra and I kind of fly under the radar. But you?" The redhead shook out her hair again. "You're expected to excel in every arena, and they're punishing you more than anyone else. You know that."

Vegeta's face was utterly blank as he listened to the girl's irate speech. He had never considered such things before. After all, he had been assured that they were all going to be pushed to their extremes, so when he experienced it himself, he had assumed that it was true for the others. But as he cleared his mind and truly thought about it, Roma was right. They expected more of him.

"And you know what I think is just pathetic?" Roma went on, ignoring the subtle changes in her friend's face as he thought. "They're harping on this mythical sense of teamwork while telling you you're weak for giving a damn about your suddenly bitchy sister. They're not trying to force any of the other siblings apart, so why the hell are they doing it to you?"

The wounded prince felt his heart rate elevate as he considered what he was being told. The girl was right, he and Takyra were the only siblings to be told to stay away from one another. The others were allowed to do as they pleased, and no one said a word about it.

Why the Saiyans, then? Why were they being singled out?

A sense of betrayal wound its way through his young mind. They were not punishing him for any wrongdoing. They were not curing him of a weakness. They were not treating him as the other royals were treated. He was not their peer. He was their target.

It was an unnerving thought, one that he could not shake.

"Think about it," the girl continued, her look of anger fading into one of concern. "Zierke and Zarbon partner up whenever they're on a similar task, and so do Jaikan and Jeice. They've never been pressured to walk away from one another, and they've _definitely_ never been told that a mistake by one would be taken out on the other. It's just you. And there's nothing even close to that for those of us who don't have any brothers or sisters. It's all on you."

"There's a reason," Vegeta bit out as firmly as he could. However, he looked away from the girl as he spoke, and he found that he did not truly believe the words he spoke. "There is always a reason."

"Is there?" Roma argued. "Vegeta, I'm not saying this because I want to hurt you. I'm saying this because I don't understand what's going on, and I don't think you do, either. Whether you like it or not, Vegeta, I am your friend, and I don't like watching my friends getting hurt. You and Takyra have been put through the wringer, and for the life of me I don't know why. Honestly, that pisses me off."

Having finished ranting, the girl leaned back and studied the boy. She was waiting for a reply, a rebuttal of some kind, to come spewing from the prince's mouth. After all, Vegeta was a master at arguing and never seemed to pass up the opportunity to pick a fight. However, instead of seeing the fire in his eyes that normally burned brightly, Roma saw only a rising sense of doubt on the boy's face.

"Vegeta?" she gently asked, leaning forward once again. "Vegeta, are you okay?"

But again, there was no answer. With distant eyes, Vegeta sat in silence. It seemed as though he was no longer even aware that he had company in his room.

Roma slid even closer and placed at hand on the boy's cheek. "Vegeta?" she softly asked, guiding his face toward her own. "Vegeta, look at me, please."

The prince blinked, bringing himself back into the present. "What?" he quietly responded, his eyes still not fully focused.

Roma frowned as she studied him more closely. "I'm sorry," she honestly told him. "I didn't think I was going to hurt you."

"You didn't hurt me," the boy quickly defended, his eyebrows pulling together. "I'm fine."

The half-blood opened her mouth to argue, put one look into those clearly troubled eyes shut her up fast. Already she had disturbed him, and Roma desperately wished to harm him no more. "Yeah," she gently answered, "of course you are." With great reluctance, she slid off the bed and grabbed the notebook off the nightstand. "Here," she told him, placing it in his lap. "I guess I'll visit you later. You know, when you're more…fine."

As she made her way for the door, Roma glanced back at her wounded friend. She hated to leave him that way. Being stuck in the room had been bad enough, but thanks to her, he was suddenly questioning things that had never bothered him before. There was a very real wave of guilt that crashed over her as she watched his eyes grow distant again, and she wished dearly to find a way to make it better. Perhaps she had been wrong herself. Maybe the other siblings _were_ being pressured, but because she was not close with the members of those pairs, she had not noticed. Maybe she was just overreacting.

Walking out the door, Roma shook her head. She was going to investigate further and try to find the reason that Vegeta insisted existed. If it was there, she would find it and assuage the doubts that she had sparked. Then everything could go back to normal.

Little did she know how much damage she had already done, or the consequences that would fall on them.


	10. Chapter 10

Vegeta was silent as they removed the final tubes from his chest. While he was still far from cleared to jump back into all of his standard activities, he was soon to be permitted to leave the room. It had been eight days since he had been placed in the infirmary, and he had not enjoyed a moment of it. He had always believed himself to be independent, that isolation would never bother him, but that week had proven him wrong. The lack of visitation from the others hardly bothered him. The utter silence from his sister did. He was not only stuck on a bed and forbidden to train, but keeping away from Takyra had nearly driven him to madness.

The medic was talking to him, surely listing off what he was and was not supposed to do, but the Saiyan boy was not listening to a word of it. He knew the basics well enough, and his focus was on his new objective. The words Roma had spoken to him a few days earlier had rattled around in his mind, and it had only gained momentum. They were targeting him. They were singling him out. There was clearly something going on that they were not telling him about. And because he was not in on it, he was not just another student. He was their victim.

Their victim.

It was a role he had never truly occupied before. He had heard of it, but had been blessed enough to have never experienced it up to that point in his life. But Roma was right, that was where he stood with them. How had he been so blind? How had he not seen it before? The signs were all there, plain as day, and yet he had missed every one of them because he had assumed that there was a reason. There had always been one before, so he had not doubted that there was reason enough for such actions. However, the more he thought about it, the more he realized that he could not come up with a single valid rationalization for it.

The medic was still talking, but Vegeta remained aware enough of his environment to know when to nod. The words spoken to him were a dull and muted noise, not one of them truly penetrating his mind, but the prince was practiced enough in pretending to listen to know how to play along. The look the man was giving him clearly asked if he understood what was being said, and the proper response was a nod. Vegeta did not need to know what was being said, though. He already had an agenda for when he was freed, and no amount of medical counseling was going to slow him down.

A hand was placed on his back, and Vegeta instinctively sat up. The talk was almost over, thank the gods. They were clearly getting to that point where they were going to tell him to be more careful, a meaningless sentiment if ever there was one. Either a person would be traumatized enough by the event to change on their own, or they did not think it was so bad and would likely sustain it again. No stern lecture had ever changed that.

A chair was brought before him, but Vegeta scoffed. "I can walk," he informed the medic. While there was a distinct disagreement being called after him, Vegeta did not care. If he had to spend one more minute in that room, he was going to have to kill someone. So, without looking back, he strode through the doors and began moving toward his destination.

The bandages on under his oddly loose shirt itched against his skin, and the little prince could not help but cringe slightly at the sensation. Bruises, breaks, and loss of blood had never, in his life, really bothered him. However, needing to regrow any significant amount of skin was always a pain in the ass, and as they had made a jigsaw puzzle out of his chest, it would likely be bothering him for some time. Subconsciously, he brought up his left hand to scratch it, but he brain kicked on fast enough to keep him from following through.

The moment he left the medical wing, Vegeta opened up his mind as wide as he could. Feeling the edge of Takyra's mind brought a wave of comfort and solace that he had ached for since he was wounded, and the barest hint of a smile graced his young face as he mentally prodded her.

She responded almost instantly, her mind screaming her greeting. It appeared as though she had been suffering from their separation as much as he, if not more. Vegeta sent soothing thoughts her way, assuring her that he was once again back on his feet. It took precious few seconds to calm his sister, but as soon as he did, Vegeta shifted thoughts. There was work to be done.

/

Roma fidgeted nervously in the study room. The active students were all there, under instruction to use their allotted 'down time' to do research. The topics were left wide open, but the materials they had access to kept them limited to methods of destruction and how to prevent them. While Roma hardly minded academic work, and indeed marveled at some of the weaponry put on display in the room, she strongly disliked the sense of impending doom that had washed over her the minute she entered the room. She had been there dozens of times before without incident, and the sudden feeling left her more than a little nervous.

Glancing over, she noticed Takyra eyeing a blaster. Roma quirked a red eyebrow before silently sliding over to her friend. They were being watched by one of the guardians, and they knew that socialization would not be taken kindly, but Roma found herself drawn to Takyra's sudden interest in a firearm. The Saiyan's were not known for using guns. Ever. They preferred weapons they controlled with their bodies or using no weapons at all. So why a blaster? Why was the little princess suddenly fascinated by it?

Silently, Takyra began to circle her way around the case, an act that only added to Roma's worry. While Takyra could be a force to be reckoned with in a combat situation, she was not known for being at all intense outside of that environment. Roma opened her mouth to ask what was bothering her friend, but one stern look from the guardian told her that trying so would not be well received.

Suddenly, the hair on the back of Roma's neck prickled up, and the redhead knew that something was wrong. She looked around the room, praying to find any clue to her sudden sense of anxiety, but nothing in the room gave any indication of things to come. What was wrong? She had never felt the sensation outside of a sparring match, and even then, it was not nearly so intense. No, that was not true. She had felt that particular sensation once before, eight days earlier, when Vegeta had damn near gotten himself killed.

Was that it? Was that brash boy going to do something that foolhardy again? He would not do something so reckless again, would he? As far as the girl knew, he was still in his hospital bed. So that could not possibly be it, and it had to be something else.

Glancing up, Roma noticed the look on Takyra's face, and without being aware of it she shivered. There was definitely something wrong…

The sound of a door opening caught her attention, and Roma stared, shocked, as Vegeta entered the room. His expression matched his sister's perfectly, and it was extremely unsettling. Glancing around, the redhead noticed that not one of the others, even Takyra, had looked up from what they were doing as the boy walked toward them. Her mouth opened to make a statement on that, but the words never made it out.

Everything happened so fast that even the guardian in the room had missed the start. One minute they were all standing around, studying quietly to themselves and ignoring one another. And only seconds later, it was chaos. People were screaming and shouting, books were flying all around the room, some of the students were rushing to the front and others retreating to the back, and in the middle of it all stood Vegeta, an arm wrapped around Jaikan's body and a knife to his throat.

Roma watched horrified as Jeice made a move to help his brother, only to find the blaster aiming right at his temple. The chaos around Vegeta had given Takyra the opportunity to steal and activate the weapon, and the look in her eye indicated that she planned to use it. Jeice was more powerful than Takyra, but that particular weapon more than leveled the playing field.

As suddenly as the flurry of movement started, it stopped. The Saiyan siblings held the twin brothers in a stalemate, and no one else dared to move. Many of the onlookers did not even dare to breath. A minute passed with the two youngest fighters holding their aggressive ground, and the only sound that existed was that of Jaikan's shallow breathing.

Cautiously entering the room, Kaeyea stared at her young charges. Had they completely lost their minds? Had the forced separation truly driven them both to madness? Silently, the warrior woman brought herself around the crowd and well into the eyesight of the children.

Vegeta tightened his grip on Jaikan and pressed the knife harder against the older boy's throat. He saw that his guardian had arrived from the corner of his eye, but his glare never once left Jeice's. "Come on," he taunted, "make a move."

Jeice looked from his brother to the Saiyan that held him hostage. He was fairly fast, but not nearly fast enough to disengage Vegeta before that knife slashed Jaikan's throat. "Why the hell are you doing this?" he hoarsely demanded.

"What the hell makes you think you're in any position to be making demands?" came the snarled reply.

Moving closer slowly, Kaeyea recognized the weapon in Vegeta's hand as her own boot knife. Trying to hide her shock, the woman looked down and realized for the first time that her blade was missing. When had he gotten his hands on it? And how had she not noticed?

"Vegeta," she began, keeping her voice calm and level despite her stress level, "put my knife down."

"Why?" the little prince bitterly demanded. "What'll you do if I don't?"

Drawing in air to her already full lungs, Roma took a small step toward her friend. "Vegeta, this isn't going to end well if you don't listen to her," she counseled. "Please…" She turned her head and shot Takyra a pleading look. "Takyra, listen to reason."

"Why?" Takyra shot back, mimicking her brother perfectly. "They're going to beat us down all the same, whether we back down now or not."

As Roma and Kaeyea tried to figure out how to diffuse the situation, the others chose to walk out of the room, save Ronai, who simply backed away. While not nearly as close to the Saiyans as Roma was, she did consider Takyra a friend and would help in any way that she could.

Several agonizing seconds ticked by, with no one in the room moving or speaking, before Vegeta narrowed his glare at Jeice. "Walk away," he darkly commanded.

Stunned, Jeice took a step backwards. "What?" he barely got out.

"Walk out," the little prince calmly repeated, in full control of his situation. "Turn your back on your brother and walk out that door like the rest of the cowards." To back up her brother's words, Takyra put enough pressure on her weapon's trigger to have the telltale glow appear at the end of the barrel.

As Jeice looked back and forth between his brother and the blaster, Jaikan attempted to swallow what little saliva was in his mouth. Was his brother seriously contemplating abandoning him? And if that did happen, was Vegeta going to slit his throat?

After another moment, Vegeta shifted his speech only to Kaeyea, keeping his eyes on his immediate enemy. "It would appear that he is not leaving," he told his guardian, his voice colder than ice. "What shall his punishment be?"

The chill of his words ran down Kaeyea's spine. It had been her intention to show the Saiyan's that their actions could have consequences on one another and that they had to be strong as individuals, less someone try to use one to gain power over the other. It had never occurred to her that, as children, they were perhaps too young to see the strength they would gain in the long run as valuable enough to be worth their temporary pain.

And never had she thought that her lessons would be too much for them to bear.

"Vegeta…"

"Caring for your family is a weakness," he reprimanded. "That one is showing far too much weakness, and he must be cured of it. Shall you show him the same courtesy that you have shown us? Or shall you be stricter? He is older than we are, after all. He should know better by now."

With some reluctance, Roma slid another small step toward her friends. "Geta," she softly told him, "this wasn't what I meant when I told you that you were being treated differently."

"Isn't it?" came the snide reply. "I was being singled out. You said it yourself. I was just too blind before to see it."

"And what do you see now, Vegeta?" Kaeyea demanded. "What do you see in your future?" With a calmness that she did not feel, she pointed a long finger at the girl at the side. "What do you see in her future?"

"My future is irrelevant," Takyra informed her guardian. "He will be strong and make his decision, regardless of how it may hurt me. My brother will not show weakness."

Opening her hand, Kaeyea's hand began to glow with the ominous sight of gathering energy. She was loathe to use such tactics, but it was all she could think of in that instant. "Are you sure about that?" she darkly asked them, building her energy at a steady rate.

Takyra felt the sweat forming on her back, but she refused to flinch. She would not be the cause of her brother's downfall, even at the cost of her own life.

A few feet away, Vegeta was beginning to feel his own resolve fading. He had no problem putting his own neck on the line, but even after everything that had happened, he still wished to protect his sister from harm. However, they were proving a point, and Takyra, though frightened, was not backing down. He could not hurt her by backing down. Her pride was on the line as much as his own. To show that to his guardian, his grip on Jaikan tightened, and the edge of the blade slowly began to slice into the exposed throat.

None of the children were giving another warning before Kaeyea released her blast directly at Takyra's chest.


	11. Chapter 11

Kaeyea stood against the wall, looking down on the two medical beds that lay side by side. Brother and sister both lay unconscious, and neither was faring well. Vegeta's wounds had been reopened, leaving him once again in a near death state and with tubes leading from his chest, and Takyra…

Everything had been so wrong. When she had fired the blast, she had intended to divert it at the last second. The child would get singed, but would have otherwise been fine. What she had not counted on was the loyalty of Roma. The redheaded girl had attacked with fervor, launching herself full bore at Kaeyea while trying to knock the blast away with her own energy. The girl had not been nearly powerful enough to stop the blast, though, and had only succeeded in distracting Kaeyea too long for the warrior to correct her trajectory. The end result was Takyra taking the shot hard to the left half of her ribcage as Roma's arm snapped.

On instinct, Kaeyea had responded to Roma's attack in kind, and when Roma went down, Ronai got involved. The fiery princess rushed the guardian, desperate to aide her fallen friends. Barely able to register what was going on, Kaeyea had tried to bat Ronai away with minimal damage. And with two persistent redheads attacking her, the guardian was ill prepared to deal with the rest of the chaos.

When the blast had been fired, Vegeta had dropped the blade and shoved Jaikan away, jumping for his sister. Jaikan collapsed to the floor as the Saiyan boy lunged, and Vegeta might have made it if not for Jeice tackling him. Vegeta landed hard on the ground, and the beating started immediately. With the enormous strength difference between them, the Saiyan would not have stood a chance even if he had been at full power. As he was, the small prince was incapacitated in seconds, but that had not stopped the red skinned boy from pummeling him on.

It had taken far too long for the other guardians to come to her aide, and by the time Kaeyea had made order from the chaos, the damage was done.

Roma was crouched on the floor with two broken legs, a broken arm, a fractured tail, and a split lip. Ronai, at Roma's side, had several small fractures to her ribs and her wrist and an open wound over her left eyebrow. Jaikan lay with a thin slit in his throat, not deep enough to be life threatening but still pouring out blood and making breathing difficult. Jeice had been restrained violently, and ended up with more than a few cracks and bruises as the guardians hauled him off of the Saiyan boy.

But Vegeta and Takyra were clearly in need of immediate help. Neither one was conscious. Both were hemorrhaging blood. Neither was breathing. And when the guardians had finally gotten close enough to check on them, it was almost too late. Much of Takyra's chest was gone, and Vegeta's, while mostly closed, was decimated inside. They had been the first ones removed, and had been rushed to the emergency care room.

So there Kaeyea stood, several hours later, looking down at her two young charges. She had never intended it to get so far. It was supposed to teach them to be strong, to not rely on one another. And as she looked down at their broken bodies, the true repercussions of her lesson were starting to sink in. The damage done to their bodies was severe. They would be down from those for a long time. But the damage done to their minds and their psyche was what worried her most.

They did not trust the others any longer, and the others did not trust them. The entire purpose of their operation was to bind the remaining empires together, to form a unified front against the ever growing power of the Kolds. And with one lesson, she had damn near destroyed any hope they might have held in making that goal come true.

What had he been thinking? How did Vegeta think that move was going to end for either of them? There was no way that he could have believed that he would be allowed to walk away. And in his fragile state, he obviously was more vulnerable. Vegeta was more than intelligent enough to have figured out how dire the consequences to his actions would have been. He had to have known what would happen. Was he truly that desperate? Over something so _trivial_?

Out of the corner of her eye, Kaeyea noticed to door opening. "You should be in your quarters," she sternly lectured.

The words flew passed Roma completely. The little redhead had both of her legs firmly braced, and her movement was more of a waddle than a walk, but she refused to slow down. One of her arms was in a sling, and there were a few stitches on her young face, but Roma did not seem to care.

"You are going to aggravate your wounds," Kaeyea scolded.

Again, the little redhead refused to so much as acknowledge the warrior woman. Staggering to the side of the room, Roma grabbed a chair with her one good appendage and limped her way in between Vegeta and Takyra's cots. It took a little wiggling, but the girl managed to get herself seated between her two friends.

Kaeyea frowned. "Return to your quarters," she commanded.

"Drop dead."

The soldier glared at the child before her. "How dare you question my authority?"

"How dare you think that you have the authority to mess with our lives like this?" Roma shot back.

Kaeyea growled. "You are out of line…"

"You know what?" Roma fought back in an instant. "I don't care where your 'line' is. I don't care what _you_ think is appropriate or right or what we should or should not do. I don't care what _you _say is the way to stop the Kold Empire. Because you know what? You clearly don't actually give a damn about any of us, so I don't give a damn what you think about anything. Okay?"

"You are treading on dangerously thin ice," the guardian angrily bit out to the child.

"Like I care," Roma shot back. "You want to beat me down? Go nuts. It's not like there's anything that's going to stop you from doing it anyway."

Though the Saiyan woman moved forward slightly, she managed to retrain her urge to punish the child. While she certainly did not approve of the tone being used, Kaeyea knew damn well that if it had been one of her friends in that scenario, she would have done the same thing. "Do not stay too long," she spoke with a low tone, turning to leave the room.

Roma let out an angry sigh. "Why?" she asked.

"Your wounds need proper time to heal…"

"No," the child interrupted. "Why did you do this?"

Kaeyea growled at the redhead. "They would not be in this state if you had not gotten in the way."

"I wouldn't have gotten in your way if you hadn't been so eager to attack my best friend!" Roma snapped.

Again, Kaeyea studied the girl before her. There was no fear in her eyes. No worry at all at any consequences that would befall her. Roma seemed more than ready to be physically assaulted for her words, and yet that small girl refused to care at all for her own welfare. All she seemed to care about was the state that her two comrades lay in.

While she was sorely tempted to teach the girl a lesson, Kaeyea chose to let the issue slide for the moment. The damage done was already far greater than she had ever anticipated. Continuing to hurt an already injured child for speaking her mind was not going to accomplish anything. Letting out an angry sigh, the Saiyan simply pushed off the wall and left the room. If she stayed any longer, she was going to do something that would be counterproductive to their cause.

Once alone, Roma leaned back against her chair, wincing as her sore muscles hit the stiff chair. "Bitch," she grumbled, trying to get comfortable. Her tail fracture in particular was hurting her greatly.

For several hours, the demi-Saiyan simply sat in silence, waiting for any sign from either of the purebloods that they were coming around. It greatly disturbed her to see them lying there, broken, pale, and practically dead on their cots. Their breathing was so shallow that it almost seemed like they were not doing it at all.

After some time had passed, Ronai entered the room. "Hey," she greeted. "How are you holding up?"

"Pissed off," the redhead grumbled.

Ronai gave her friend a small smirk. "I was mostly asking about your injuries, but that's good to know, too." The pink skinned girl pulled up another chair, placing it beside the demi-Saiyan. "You're still worked up, huh?"

"You're not?"

Ronai shrugged. "I guess I'm just so confused about everything that I can't really let the anger come in. I'm sure there's a lot to be angry about, but I'm so frickin' far out of the loop that I have no idea what it is. Right now, all I want to do is figure out what the hell happened and why it ended up this way." Stretching out slightly, she gave her friend a glance. "Why? How much do you know about it?"

The redheaded girl snorted. "You know how Kaeyea punished Takyra for that one stupid thing she said?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, Vegeta didn't take it well."

Ronai cringed. "Yeah, I noticed. Both times."

Roma nodded. "Well, the last time he was stuck in here, I came in to talk to him, and he missed my point completely."

Running her fingers through her own maroon hair, Ronai shot her friend a quizzical look. "What did you tell him?"

"Nothing!" Roma quickly defended. "I mean, nothing that should have caused _this_!"

Ronai frowned. "That's not what you believe," she told the other girl. "Your nostrils flare when you're covering your own butt, and they're flaring big time right now."

"They are not!" When Ronai sent the other girl another look, Roma rolled her eyes. "Okay, maybe a little, but he wasn't supposed to go _ballistic_ over it! How was I supposed to know that he was going to go completely crazy and pull a crazy stunt like this?"

"What the hell did you tell him?" demanded Ronai.

Guilt quickly spread across Roma's face, and she found that she had to look away. "I told him that they were treating him differently than the rest of us," she softly admitted. "What they did to him and Takyra wasn't fair, and I thought that he needed to know. I thought, worst case scenario, he would up his smart ass nature and maybe ask someone _why_ they were doing that."

"Are you freaking _nuts?_" the princess shouted. "Have you never met _either_ of them? Of _course_ Vegeta would go ballistic over something like that! Any of us would! And Vegeta? He's the worst one of us about something like this, and you know it! He's always been borderline paranoid! You shoved him over the edge!"

"Well it's not like I was _trying_ to!" Roma defended. "I just wanted him to be aware of what was going on! He's always followed what Kaeyea has said without questioning it at all, and if he's going to be a ruler, he needs to be able to question her. _Especially_ when it comes to the safety of his sister!"

"You're a moron."

The two girls snapped their heads to the side, looking down at Takyra's bed. "Oh, honey, are you waking up?" Ronai asked.

The heavily wounded princess groaned, and her eyebrows knitted together in pain. "No, I'm just in the liveliest coma in the universe."

A half smirk crossed Roma's face. "Oh no!" she teased. "Vegeta and Takyra must have switched bodies!"

"Shut it," Takyra growled, cracking an eye open. Her face was so swollen that only one of them was able to open at all, and not by all that much. "How is he?"

Without saying a word, both Roma and Ronai slid back, allowing their friend to see her brother. "He's still out," Ronai softly said. "He's been like that the whole time. He should be okay, though. The medics said that they got him fast enough. He's probably going to be out for a while, though."

"But how about you?" Roma asked. "How are you doing?"

With an exhausted sight, Takyra closed her eye. "I'm thinking about what I'm going to have to pack up before they ship us home."

Ronai frowned. "They're not going to ship you home…are they?"

"Of course they will," Takyra grimly answered. "Even if the guardians weren't mad as hell at us, there's no way the others are ever going to trust us again. If they can't trust us, there's no point in us being here. When we're deemed fit to travel, they'll be shipping us home."

"But that's not fair!" Roma shouted. "It's one mistake! They're not going to ruin all of this for that!"

But Takyra was already drifting off yet again, and the little princess seemed more than resigned to her fate. She really did believe that as soon as they were given the all clear to travel by a medic, they would be sent away and never return again.

As they watched their friend return to her near comatose state, Roma and Ronai exchanged a frown. "They wouldn't really send them away, would they?" Roma softly asked her friend.

"Probably," Ronai sadly informed the girl. "Takyra's right. The others are never going to trust the two of them again. Did you even see Jaikan?"

Roma looked away again. "Yeah," she quietly admitted. "If Vegeta had gone just a little deeper…" She shook her head again, using her thick red hair to block her face from her friend. "All I wanted to do was make sure that my friends weren't being taken advantage of. You know as well as I do that Vegeta and Takyra were being treated differently. You know what? I don't agree with how he got his views across, but Vegeta made a damn good point. If anyone else had teamed up against the two of them, and Vegeta had tried to save his sister, he _still_ would have had his tail handed to him."

"Probably," Ronai said again. "But it must be for a reason."

Her face was still hidden by her hair, but it was clear that Roma was looking further away. "That's what Vegeta told me," she miserably confided. "He was so sure that Kaeyea had a plan, that there was a reason for all of it."

Ronai leaned forward, looking at the mortally wounded boy. Vegeta truly did look like a corpse. If not for the machines hooked up to him and giving off gentle beeps of assurance, she would have sworn that the Prince of Saiyans was, in fact, dead. "If he believed in her having a plan," the girl asked, "then why would he react that way? Why would he have blown up so completely?"

That was it. The final straw had been drawn, and Roma felt the tears rolling down her cheek. The normally bright and effervescent girl cried miserably, doing what she could to keep the other girl from seeing her. "He did it because I told him," she softly sobbed. "I kept pushing and pushing and pushing. He kept telling me that there was a reason, and I refused to let him believe it. I'm the one that drove him to this! I'm the one that ruined his life! I'm the one…"

The slap resounded soundly through the room. Roma's head snapped to the side, and with the crystals of her tears still hovering at the base of her bright blue eyes, she stared at the princess beside her. "What…"

"Would you knock it the hell off?" Ronai snapped. "Yeah, maybe you shouldn't have pushed him as hard as you did, and yeah, maybe you should have just left well enough alone, but you are _not_ the one who jacked Kaeyea's boot knife, you are _not_ the one who put Jaikan in a death grip, you are _not_ the one who pulled a blaster on Jeice, you are _not_ the one who took a shot at Takyra, and you are _not_ the one who beat Vegeta to within an inch of his life! Now stop the damn pity party!"

Her lip split open once again, Roma wiped the blood from her mouth. A part of her wanted to take a swing back at her comrade, but she managed to reign in the urge. Wiping another handful of blood from her mouth, she opted to simply sit back against her chair, wincing once more as her fractured tale rubbed uncomfortably against the seat. "I feel like I owe them," she mumbled.

"You do," Ronai quickly agreed. "But sitting there feeling sorry for yourself isn't going to help them at all."

"Yeah," Roma muttered, her eyes locked on Vegeta's battered form. "I'll make sure that it's spectacular…"


	12. Chapter 12

Takyra studied her notebook closely and silently. She had been working on it little bit by little bit over the past few days as her body fought to heal, taking advantage of what little time she spent both awake and coherent. Though no one had come to speak to her about it, Takyra was convinced that she would only remain with the others until she was deemed fit to travel. After that, there was no telling what was in store for her. She and her brother had intimate knowledge of one of the best kept secrets in the universe. When they were expelled from the program, something that would likely happen in a matter of hours, how were the guardians going to protect that secret? A number of scenarios ran through her mind, but none of them seemed pleasant, and her notebook helped distract her from those miserable thoughts.

The sound of an opening door alerted the little Saiyan to an incoming guest, and she closed her notebook quickly. It fumbled around in her hands as she tried to hide it, though, and her incoming guest had not problem noticing both the book and the action.

"Well that's not suspicious at all," Roma teased, staggering her way in. Her legs had certainly begun to heal over the past several days, but they were still braced and her movements were still awkward. "What do you have there?"

"Nothing!" the dark haired girl insisted.

The redhead smirked as she approached the bed. "Right. You don't have anything right there, and I'm a quiet, introverted person."

Takyra blushed and looked away. Normally she would have continued the fight a little longer, even though she was not on the winning side, but her energy was still extremely low, and her spirits lower still. "Do you want something?"

"Yeah, I want to see what you just stashed in your bed." Roma lunged forward in an attempt to snag the secret book, but her braced legs were not nimble, and only one arm was available to catch herself with as she lost her balance. "Damn it!" she grunted, her face centimeters from smashing against the frame of the bed.

"Serves you right," Takyra returned. As Roma took a moment to right herself, Takyra slid her notebook behind her back. Her friend would certainly know where it was, but she knew that the redhead would not risk hurting her just to satiate her curiosity. "Did you come for any reason other than harassing me?"

The smirk returned to Roma's face. "There are things to do that don't involve harassing you?"

"Of course there are," the princess replied. "You could harass Ronai."

"No, I can't," the redhead grumbled. "Ronai can run faster than I can right now, and I don't have anything good to restrain her with."

For the first time in days, Takyra showed the barest hint of a smile. "You're insane."

"Life's more fun that way," Roma agreed. Her expression faltered as she looked beyond the princess to the wounded brother. "Anything from him?"

Takyra frowned, her own gaze following Roma's to her brother. "Nothing I've seen," she softly answered, "but I haven't been awake for more than a couple hours at a time."

"Have the medics told you anything about him?" the redhead asked.

The wounded princess opened her mouth to answer, but her voice was stalled when she noticed her brother's eyebrow twitch. "Vegeta?"

A deep growl emitted from the prince's throat. "Do you two harpies have any idea how the hell loud you are?" he croaked out.

"Don't care!" Roma crowed, hobbling her way over to his bed. "If being loud and obnoxious is how to wake you up from a coma, then don't expect me to shut up any time soon!" With a small grunt and no small amount of effort, the girl pulled herself up against him and gave him a very careful hug. "I was so worried about you!" Vegeta did not say or do anything in response, but Roma did not seem to mind. Delicately bringing herself upright, she offered him a glowing smile. "You know, the next time you decide to go insane, could you give me a heads up?"

The prince looked concerned and confused, but did not give a vocal response.

Roma went on, undeterred. "I mean, I know, I know, this one was partially my bad. I said a bunch of stuff to you to get you worked up, and I promise, the next time I talk to you, we'll have a little review session afterwards. You know, just so I can make sure that we're on the same page. But seriously, the next time you're planning some psycho stunt like this, give a girl a warning! Hell, I could've helped you if I'd known about it!"

From behind her, Takyra's eyes widened. "Really?" she softly asked.

"Of course!" Roma insisted. "You two are two of my best friends, and I'd rather die fighting for you than stand by and watch something bad happen to you. So in the future, if you have some grand, elaborate scheme, you count me in!"

"There will be no further schemes," Vegeta bit out. "We will not be staying, so your offer is meaningless."

"Oh please," Roma dismissed with a snort, "they're not going to boot the two of you for this. They're not going to let you off the hook, but there's no way in hell they're going to lose their ties with the Saiyan army because you two did one stupid thing. You're kids. You're going to screw up. If they can't handle that concept, then they shouldn't have brought all of us here in the first place."

But Vegeta did not seem appeased. "They do not care about our age, only our actions," he sneered at the redhead. "We will not be forgiven."

"How do you know?" Roma challenged. "Name the last thing you did that was stupid enough to _need_ forgiveness."

A tense silence filled the room as both Vegeta and his sister contemplated the question at hand. Neither of them believed themselves to be flawless, and he certainly was more rebellious than she, but rebellions had always been done on a fairly small scale before. Any of their more severe ideas was struck down in their minds before they even dared to speak them out loud. They had known their place, and they had respected it fairly well. However, even if it was their first real offense, it was an extremely serious one.

"It does not matter," Vegeta finally said. "We have been over this. We can no longer be here, and they will send us away. They will decide what to do about us after that."

Roma frowned. "Well _someone_ certainly got compliant in a hurry. What, one little smack down and you're rule boy again? Gee, wish I had known it was so easy to get you whipped. I could have been taking advantage of that for months!"

Vegeta whipped his head to the side, his spark flaring brightly. "What the hell did you just say to me?" he demanded.

"Basically that you're wussing out," the redhead taunted. "Why? You think you're doing anything differently?"

"There is a difference," the prince ground out through his teeth, "between cowardice and acceptance of a reality that cannot be changed."

But Roma snorted at that answer. "Yeah right."

Sitting up slightly, the prince growled at the girl. "How dare you imply that this is cowardice? I am simply taking a realistic look into my future and figuring out how to best comply with that. The goal is not to try to change the world around you. The goal is to make the best out of what you have got."

"You can't know what can't be changed if you don't try," Roma pointed out.

"There is a way that things are done…"

"That is always negotiable!" she interrupted. "There is nothing in life that goes the same way every time. There is always, _always_, a chance that you can change it. If you just accept everything as it is, you'll never accomplish anything great in your life, and you're too good to let that happen to you! If it's worth the fight, then fight it. It's going to be hard, and it's going to suck sometimes, and there's even a good chance you're going to get beaten down. But if you don't fight it, you can't win, and I'd rather have _bad_ odds than _no_ odds. And at this point in the game, what's the worst that can happen? You're already ready to be punished severely for this. Why not take the chance?" Another round of silence fell upon the room, but instead of waiting for either of the young royals to answer, the redhead shook her head and went on. "Look, don't even worry about it," she assured both of them. "You're not going anywhere."

Takyra and Vegeta stared at the girl. She looked shocked and he looked skeptical, but both gave her full attention. "What are you talking about?" Vegeta quietly demanded.

"You're not expelled," Roma clarified. "You're still in the program."

Takyra sighed. "Roma, I know you ant to cheer us up, but…"

"Oh, this isn't just talk," she assured, interrupting once again. "I fought it out with Kaeyea. You're staying."

Vegeta stared at the girl, slack-jawed. "You…did what?"

"I told her it was ridiculous to kick you two out of the program and that I wasn't going to shut up until she agreed to let you stay," she responded. "I don't think she likes me anymore…"

"That's not you, it's her," Takyra replied. "Now what the hell are you saying?"

Roma quirked her split eyebrow at the two bed ridden royals. "I'm not sure where I'm losing you two on this, so I'll use small words and big arm gestures. Me go to Kaeyea. Me say you no go. Kaeyea mad as hell. Kaeyea say unkind things. Me not care. Kaeyea give up. You stay here. Got it?"

Vegeta sat up slightly, wary of the lines leading from his chest. "Why would you do that?"

Roma frowned. "I thought you wanted to stay…"

"No," the prince interrupted. "Why would you take that big a risk for us? For me?"

The redhead rolled her eyes again. "Do you not listen when I talk to you? You're my _friend_,you moron! I don't abandon my friends." Leaning against the wall with her good shoulder, she let out a small huff. "Besides, I would much rather be kicked out of the program with you two than stick around without you."

Even Takyra seemed shocked by the admission. "Roma, do you know what you would be giving up if you left here?"

"Yeah," the girl casually returned, "but let's face it, I'm closer with you than I am with any of the others. I mean, I'm decently close with Ronai. She's cool. But I really don't think I could stand being with the rest of them. They're just too, I don't know, self-involved." She changed her gaze to the boy. "Don't get me wrong, Vegeta. You've got a decent streak of narcissism in you, too. But you were willing to put it all on the line to save your sister. I don't think any of the others would care that much."

The three stayed in silence for a minute more before Roma got sick of it. "So Takyra, what's in that book of yours?"

"What?" the princess responded, a blush running along her cheeks. "It's nothing!"

"It's her sketchbook," her brother gave away. When his sister sent him a death glare, Vegeta rolled his eyes. "Do you really think this lunatic is going to let either of us rest until she finds out what it is? Just show her the damn book."

"Traitor," Takyra growled. "It's my book!"

But Roma's eyes were bright and excited. "Ooh, show me, show me, show me!"

"Roma!" Takyra weakly whined.

"What?" the redhead responded. "Vegeta's right, I'm not going to leave you alone until I see it. And you should already know that about me, sweetie, so hand it over!"

The wounded girl lay back in her bed and scowled. "I officially don't like it when the two of you team up against me."

"You're the one that said I needed to make friends," Vegeta informed her, "so you can deal with those consequences."

Slowly, Roma turned back around and looked at the prince. Her blue eyes were wide with shock. "You really do consider me to be your friend?" she quietly asked him.

Bright red streaked Vegeta's face. "That's not what I meant!" he insisted.

"Yes it is!" Roma cheered. "Hah ha, I'm your friend!"

"You are not!"

"Am too!"

"Are not!"

"Am too!"

"Are you two going to be doing that for a while?" Takyra complained. "Because if you are, I might just have to pull something out of my patches and hemorrhage a little, just so I won't have to listen to it."

"Then tell her to shut the hell up!" Vegeta shouted.

Roma opened her mouth to retaliate, but she found herself pausing as something caught her attention. Vegeta had only argued with her for about half a minute, but his face was white under that blush, there was a layer of sweat forming on his forehead, and his breathing was ragged. "Um, are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" the prince snapped.

"Right," Roma softly said. "Well, I guess we can call it a draw for right now." Hobbling on her braced legs, she began to walk out the door and waved with her good hand. "I'm going to go try to score some food. I'll see you guys in a bit!"

As she left, the two siblings lay, slightly dumbfounded by the entire episode. "Do you really think we're going to be allowed to stay?" Takyra softly asked her brother.

Vegeta frowned, his body trying to recover from its earlier stress. "I don't know," he honestly said. "There is no reason I can think of for her to lie, but…I don't know."

"Do you want it to be true?"

The frown deepened. "I do," he very slowly answered, "but I do not know how the others would react. Perhaps…perhaps it would be best if we left."

Takyra fidgeted in her bed and pulled the sketchbook out from under her covers. She no longer wanted to think about it, and her brother was clearly still recovering from his argument with Roma. Without another word, she pulled out her pen and opened her book, turning to the last page she was working on. She drew in silence, save the sound of Vegeta's ragged breathing and the slow, steady rhythm of the machines. For the time being, it was all she could do.


	13. Chapter 13

Everyone ate breakfast quietly that morning, the tension weighing on them all. It was only one hour before the two Saiyans were slated to return to their studies, and few were happy about it. Several of them had taken the time without them around to be teleported to their respective homes, spending just enough time in their respective empires to keep their otherwise occupied parents from noticing their absences. They had shared good laughs about how ridiculously easy it was to disappear without their parents noticing, only proving further that the lords and ladies of their homelands really did shift all responsibilities onto others. As long as the child was sporadically seen, and it was otherwise implied that they were with their guardians, no one batted an eye at their absence.

It had been a good time, but the knowledge that _they_ were coming back had brought a heaviness on their souls. The Saiyans had proven that they were not only self-involved, but too dangerous to be around. And it was not an opinion that was maintained quietly. Every meal was filled with murmurs of, "They've got to go," and, "If they don't leave, I will."

Trying to stay under the radar, the others, save Roma and Ronai, had begun to form an alliance of hatred toward the Saiyans. They met in secret and plotted ways to force the Saiyans to leave. True, Kaeyea was the best trainer they could have for battle tactics and war scenarios, but she was a member of that hated race, and that meant she was a threat. If they felt it necessary, they were ready to all walk out.

The doors to the cafeteria opened, and all chatter stopped. Roma, Vegeta, and Takyra had entered, and the hatred was so thick in the air it could be tasted. It was without a word that the three with Saiyan blood took their food and sat at their own table. Not one word was spoken by any of them for the remainder of the meal.

As they began to put their trays away, the sound of doors locking rang through the room. Every door had at least two guardians in front of it, and Kaeyea was standing in the middle of the room, a dangerous glint in her eye. No verbal command was needed for the children to get the message loud and clear: sit down, shut up, and await orders.

"For those of you who were wondering," she coolly told the room, "the other guardians and I are more than aware of what all of you have been talking about."

The sound of a fork hitting the ground echoed through the room.

Kaeyea's eyes carefully scanned the room, making absolute certain that she held the undivided attention of each of the young royals. "Regardless of your personal feelings, you are neither excused nor permitted to leave this program without our say so. And I promise you, none of you are leaving. You are here. You will stay here. You will suck it up and deal with it here. None of you are excused from your exercises either, and tardiness will _not_ be tolerated. You will report to my standard lecture hall. You will do it now."

While none of the children were thinking kind things, the unspoken threat of what punishment would be handed down for the crime of back talk was more than enough to keep them quiet. Had Kaeyea been alone, they might have spoken up. However, the guardians who had blocked the doors during the Saiyan's speech were clearly on her side, and they knew there was no hope of taking them all on.

Only minutes passed before they stood in the room, firm and still at attention. Kaeyea clasped her hands behind her back and circled the group, perfectly imitating a predator circling a kill. "You have done work with strategy on an individual basis up to this point," she informed them, "but it was all theory done on paper. Hardly a useful skill in a true and proper combat arena. Today we take that to the next level."

All of the young royals sat silently. They had been there long enough to know better than to interrupt with questions. Kaeyea never took that well.

"You will be separated into two predetermined teams," she went on. "After you have been separated, you will find out what resources your team will have access to. Study it carefully, but be quick with it, for you will only have a few minutes before the simulation will begin. You will not be actively involved in the assault. You are strictly participating in a command position." Her eyes narrowed as she glared at the group. "Do not forget the disaster that befell some of you last time when you refused to work with one another. A failure of that magnitude will be harshly dealt with."

Irinya and Shishki, the two most confrontational members from that team, both sat a little straighter. They had been comparatively spared after the last team mission due to overreactions on the Saiyans' behalf, and they knew they would likely receive no such luck if they blew it again.

The room remained silent for another few minutes before the Saiyan warrior informed them bluntly, "Takyra, Romaniyae, Vegeta, you are on one team. The rest of you are against them."

To say the students were shocked would be an understatement, but again, no one dared question it. Not only was Kaeyea intimidating, if not terrifying, when questioned, but with the exception on Ronai, none of the others wanted to be anywhere near any child with Saiyan blood. They were strongly distrusted, and highly disliked, even hated, by most of the others. The opportunity to single the three of them out and humiliate them seemed like a dream come true. They were going to crush their opponents, and they were going to rub the losers' faces in humiliating defeat.

They were divided up and sent to their respective preparation areas. The larger team was quick to counter their earlier mistake, and instead of instantly pouting or fighting with one another, they managed to set up a more democratic setup. Most of them were not happy with the idea of compromising their individual power, but the threat of being shown up by the three youngest members of the group was not far from any of their minds.

"It looks like it's a battle scenario," Irinya quickly recognized. "We're running a simulation with a full military setup. We're on the defensive."

"Good," Shishki quickly nodded along. "That gives us an advantage over the little bastards."

They knew that there was no official clock running on their drill, that it would go on until one side conceded defeat to the others. And considering who they were up against, the larger group quickly agreed that they had to be ready as fast as physically possible. The Saiyans were known for being an aggressive and hotheaded race, and it stood to reason that children of that race would react even more quickly in battle than their adult counterparts. Two proud royal Saiyans and their half-blood friend? They were going to hit hard, and they were going to hit fast. Rushing, they threw together a strategy and made sure their simulated troops were ready for a head on confrontation.

But the move did not come right away, and that put the other team on edge. "What the hell is taking so long?" Zarbon finally complained, growing bored with the wait. "Shouldn't the monkeys be here by now?"

"Maybe they actually stopped to _think_ about their strategy for a change," Jaikan sneered. Without being fully aware of it, he tugged at his high black collar, hiding his still healing wound.

Behind him, Ronai frowned. She at least knew Roma and Takyra fairly well, and she knew Jaikan's statement was an unfair generalization. The Saiyans were usually fairly on top of strategy. Still, she could sympathize with the brightly hued prince and his anger, and opted to keep her own opinions to herself.

Time dragged on, and still nothing happened. As minutes, and then hours, went by, the larger team grew more and more agitated. They were clearly meant to be on the defensive side, but the longer they were forced to wait, the more they found themselves voicing the possibility of taking an offensive stance. If the battle had to happen either way, then why not be the ones to strike first?

/

Roma worked on braiding and unbraiding her hair over and over again with one hand, a giant grin on her face. "You know," she told Vegeta, "remind me to never piss you the hell off. You're such an evil genius!"

The Saiyan prince smirked, his eyes never leaving the screen of the simulator. "What can I say?" he bragged. "I get a little thrill out of watching someone destroy themselves without any provocation at all."

"You know," the redhead teased, "it's a damn good thing you were born a prince, because if you were any lower in the class system, I swear you'd be a top class sociopath."

"Don't flatter him," Takyra hoarsely answered with a roll of her eyes. "And in the name of all that is good and pure in this universe, don't put the idea of him being a great sociopath in his head. The last thing he needs is a direct challenge of that magnitude."

"I can hear you," her older brother bit out.

But Takyra simply replied with, "Well, I wasn't being quiet!"

Roma giggled, continually playing with her hair. It amused her to no end to watch that particular sibling pair interact. While they were out among the others, Vegeta was colder and sterner, and Takyra meek and cautious. But with one another, he was still aggressive, but in a far more playful way, and Takyra ran with him stride for stride in pride and confidence. She would still bow to him as a leader, if need be, and was yet to don the mantle herself, but she was hardly the waif that many of the others mistook her for.

"Well, whether he takes on the challenge or not," Roma responded, "I still think this is awesome. How badly do you think they're freaking out right now?"

"Pretty badly," Vegeta answered. "Look, they're starting to rearrange their troops closer to our territory."

Takyra approached the large screened console and studied it carefully. "Stronger front line defense or preparing their own offensive?"

"Probably starting with the first and moving to the second," the half-blood reasoned, finally letting her hair lay still. "And you were totally right, they're already getting so paranoid that they've moved on to our radar." Glancing around the room, she quirked an eyebrow. "Anyone here know just how long we had to wait for them to panic?"

"Not in exact time," Takyra admitted, "but I know it's been at least seven hours."

Grunting slightly, Roma took a seat beside the sibling. "Geez, no wonder I'm starving."

"We all are," the prince snapped, "so shut up!"

Though she opted to stick her tongue out at the boy, Roma did stay quiet for a little while. After all, there was nothing to gain in picking the fight, and her attentions needed to be on the scenario, not her growling stomach. Another hour dragged agonizingly by before it began looking like their enemies were going to make a move. "You know," she mentioned, watching the figures rearrange themselves again on the screen, "it's a damn good thing that we came up with the plan that involved our own boredom and starvation before we got all, well, bored and hungry."

"That's where their weakness is going to be," Vegeta sharply reminded the girl. "They didn't have a firm plan in action before they began to wear down. By now they should we well into the realm of irrational thinking. The longer they wait and the hungrier they get, the sloppier their minds and the easier our kill."

"Yeah, well, how much longer do you think it's going to be before they snap and do something flat out stupid?" Roma demanded.

But Vegeta simply smirked, his eyes still glued to the screen. "Just watch."

They continued watching, yet another hour slowly ticking off as they watched their enemies flirt closer and closer with disaster while they seemingly did nothing at all. Bored of silence, Roma slid a chair next to where the Saiyan prince stood, informing him, "You know you can sit, right?"

"I prefer to stand," he bluntly answered.

Rolling her eyes, Roma turned the chair around and rested her chin on the back end of her seat. "You're nuts," she told him, "but I've got to admit, your strategies are pretty impressive."

"Of course they are," he sneered, still not looking at her. "I'm smarter than you are."

"Really?" Roma taunted. "So am I to take it that you solve all of those puzzles I gave you?"

The prince huffed quietly, and both girls in the room with him noticed as he sucked in and bit down on his left cheek. Knowing perfectly well that meant that he was yet to be successful, in spite of his pride, reduced his two cohorts into a fit of giggles.

"Would you two stop that?" he barked, his eyes leaving the screen for the first time in hours. "There is no time for your childish behavior! We are at war!"

"We are in a simulation," Takyra pointed out, "one that we're in total control in. I doubt ten seconds of laughter is going to cost us the battle."

"You have no idea what could cost us the battle!" her brother shouted.

But Takyra only laughed harder. "Calm down, you neurotic wreck! And you can stop yelling, you don't intimidate either of us. You're my big brother. You might be competitive with me, but I know you're never going to do anything to hurt me."

His glare cool and steely, Vegeta looked from his sister to the other girl, silently daring her to challenge him. "What?" Roma answered, still giggling herself. "I went toe to toe with Kaeyea. _Twice_. You think _you_ are going to scare me?" She watched him open his mouth, ready to shout her stupid, but a flash on the screen caught her attention. "Hey, they're on the move again."

Vegeta was not ready to let Roma off the hook, but his desire to win was stronger than his need to be right. "They're moving up the left side as anticipated. Man your stations."

"Who died and made you boss?" Roma teased.

The Saiyan prince shot her a dirty glare. "Who's the evil genius here, me or you?"

With a small laugh, the half-blood assumed her assigned position. She had to admit, as crazy and temperamental as that boy could be, he fascinated her. Besides, he was _definitely_ the one to side with in a strategic battle, and her own competitive side loved his plans.

/

"Wait, what's happening?" Irinya demanded. Their forces had moved in to what had read as a weak spot in the front lines of their opponent's forces, sending everything they had at that single spot. Their though had been that the other team would not be set up for a firm defense, and that by funneling their forces through that less guarded point, they would easily be able to smash through to the main camp.

Their plan was not working well.

"What the hell?" Jeice shouted. "How the hell are they taking us out? This is insane!"

"We need to change our plan!" Jaikan called out. "What do you think we should do?"

Jeice turned and glared at his brother. "You're supposed to be the smart one, _you_ figure out what we should do!"

"I do technology, not tactics!"

"Will _someone_ come up with _something_?" Shishki hissed. "They're destroying us!"

"Whose genius idea was this in the first place?" Zarbon drawled. He enjoyed a good win as much as the others, but he failed to see how getting hysterical was going to help at all. And he was a fighter and a politician, not a warlord. It was someone else's job to conduct the war.

Hungry, stressed, and still without clear leadership, the members of the team fell into a wild shouting match, each one screaming out half thought out ideas without listening to one another. And before any of them managed to calm things down, their forces had been all but eliminated, and their camp surrounded and forced into surrender.

"We lost?" Ronai softly said, watching sadly as they were completely overrun.

None of the others spoke a word. There was no need. They knew what a failure of that magnitude would mean for them, and their pride began to fade to fear. War games were taken extremely seriously, and for good reason. Failure to take out the three youngest children was going to bring punishment that would be both swift and severe.

They stood across the far wall as the door opened, and each one of them had to fight to keep their head up as Kaeyea entered. The opposing team followed behind her, quietly wearing the smug look of success on their faces.

"So, I see you failed," the Saiyan warrior lectured, stalking up and down the line of children. "All of you against the three of them. And you lost. Can you explain why?"

None of the children made a move to answer, not that Kaeyea had particularly expected one.

"Very well. I will tell you why you lost." She took a firm stance, her weight evenly distributed over her feet and her arms over her chest. "You lost because not one of you has proven to be half as good at strategy as any of the three of them."

It was not what they were expecting, not even the victors. She had known the Saiyans were going to win?

"Now, several of you indicated that you wanted a complete severance from my empire, that all of us with Saiyan blood were nothing more than a threat to your ideals. Tell me, now that you have faced the future of the Saiyan Empire in a battle confrontation, ask yourselves this: do you really want to turn them from tepid allies to sworn enemies?" She turned to her own charges, sending them a hard look. "And you three, could you honestly tell me that against the overwhelming power of the Kold Empire, the Saiyans would fare any better without assistance?"

It was all that she said, leaving all the children alone in that room to quietly reflect. For the first time in their time together, they all began to realize just how vital it was that they stand behind one another. Separating even one group out would lead to total disaster.


	14. Chapter 14

Kaeyea and the guardians quietly as their students engaged in a rare moment of leisure time. Several months had passed since the incident, and all of the young royals seemed to have settled down and adapted quite well. They had been pushed extremely hard over the past months, and more and more, in every aspect of their training, they had been forced to learn to work with one another. It had taken a while, but it seemed they were truly beginning to become allies instead of rivals.

Their schedules until that day had been strictly regimented. Combat training, leadership training, political training, technological training, psychological training. Anything and everything that could possibly be needed in their futures was forced upon them, and as a whole, they had risen to meet the challenge.

So hard had they been pushed to increase their skills that they hardly knew what to do when granted a day off. They had been permitted the odd hour off, and they had been taken back to their home world's for short periods, but never had they been told to take a day and simply relax. To most of them, it was an extremely foreign concept.

As they had slowly eased in to the idea of it, it became even more obvious that none of them really knew how to behave like the children they were. There were quiet discussions between groups, and a few strategy games being played, but hardly anything indicative of their young ages. No one was running around, starting a game like tag. No one made silly little jokes. No one tried to see if they could get an extra dessert type snack. It was, in an odd way, unsettling to watch them interact. However, the children did seem to be releasing their well stored tension, and if their quiet ways worked, then so be it.

One had even broken away from the small crowd, choosing to return home for his day off. It was not entirely surprising, though. Dorgian was the oldest of the group, and while he had been known to socialize with Zierke, he understandably felt separated out from the younger crowd. So when he had been given the option of doing as he pleased for the day, he opted to see his homeland again. The teleporting guardian dropped him and his own guardian off in the morning, and gave strict instructions for where and when they should be to be picked up in the evening.

It was fascinating to the adults to see how the children had broken themselves off for the afternoon. Most of the boys were together on one side, quietly talking amongst themselves about various things, mostly entertainment forms on their respective planets. Shishki, much like the cat she resembled, wandered from group to group, seemingly disinterested in what they were doing but refusing to let it happen without her knowledge. Roma and Ronai were playing a game with one another, and Takyra waited beside them, ready to take on the winner. And Irinya, still burning from a defeat she had recently suffered at the hands of the Saiyan prince, had challenged him to round after round of strategy games. She was good at them, but he was better, and many of the others would spare them an amused glance when the golden girl screamed a curse as she found herself defeated repeatedly.

"Give it up," Roma called out, her eyes on her own game. "You're never going to beat him."

Irinya shot the redhead a dirty look. "He is not the best at this!" she shouted.

"I never said he was," the other girl countered, moving her own piece. "But he's near the top, and you're well, not. We're supposed to be relaxing, and I don't think getting your butt handed to you over and over again is going to help with that."

Teleporting to Roma's side, Irinya growled at the younger girl. "You think you could do better?" she hissed.

But Roma did not even look at the girl, choosing to completely ignore the golden light she could see radiating off the other. "I don't think," she smugly answered. "I know I could."

Takyra opened her mouth, hoping to help cool tempers, but she found a hand clamped over it before even a squeak made it out. "Now, now, don't get in the way," her brother told her, a smirk on his face. "If they need to settle a dispute, it is only right that we let them."

The Saiyan girl elbowed her brother in the ribs. She knew the strike was not hard enough to hurt him, nor had she meant it to. It was merely her wordless way of demanding to be released, a demand her brother gave in to with amusement. "You're such an ass sometimes," the sister accused.

Vegeta shrugged, his smirk still on his face. "Life's more fun that way."

"I know you're just doing this because you want to see the two of them start swinging at each other," she pointed out.

Again, her brother simply shrugged her off. "Well, _obviously_. That's where the fun is!"

Their attention turned back to the fighting females, who were, indeed beginning to escalate. Their insults had gotten more aggressive, they were both standing toe to toe, and it truly did seem as though that violence was imminent. Ronai, ever a quiet peacekeeper, got to her feet and moved to grab one of the adults.

She froze, though, as she noticed that something was seriously wrong. The adults were not longer watching their charges at all. They were standing in a tight circle, extremely concerned looks on their faces. They were speaking with one another, their voices low but tense.

The other children caught on to what Ronai was seeing, all of them, even Roma and Irinya, falling quiet. Something was wrong, seriously wrong. The guardians had never done anything like that before. Clearly, something had happened.

Kaeyea nodded toward the other guardians before turning to the silenced crowd. Her face was grim, a look none of them had ever seen on her before. Making virtually no noise, the children circled around her, silently pleading to know what was going on.

"We've had a report come in," she told them, her voice cool and emotionless. "Hethgaina has been destroyed. There were no survivors."

The silence in the room was almost suffocating as the young charges took in what they were being told. Hethgaina was gone. Dorgian's home world was destroyed. Dorgian had gone home for the day…

Kaeyea let out a tense breath, simply stating, "We will meet in the main conference room in ten minutes. We will discuss what this means then."

Numbly, the children watched her leave, slowly letting it sink in that one of their own was dead.

/

When lights out came, they silently complied. The bunks were quiet that night, no one quite knowing what to say. None of them had ever experienced a true loss in the past, and they found coping with it to be very difficult. They had not all necessarily been close friends, but they were close enough for the loss to hurt. To those children, death had been more of a novel concept than anything else. They had been aware that it existed, and what it meant, but they had never before known someone personally who had suddenly ceased to live. Coming to terms with the thought that their companion would never be seen again, never be heard, never be near for all eternity…

Vegeta stared at the bottom of his sister's bed, wide awake as ever, even in the middle of the night. He and the purple skinned boy had only directly interacted a handful of times, and a few of those instances had been extremely unpleasant. But still, he knew that Dorgian had been a good person, one of the more lighthearted members of the group. The Saiyan was not feeling truly sad at the loss, but more confused than anything else. Processing new emotion had never been his greatest gift, and that moment proved no different.

He noticed movement out of the corner of his eye, and looked over to find Roma quietly approaching him. "Go back to bed," he commanded her.

But the redheaded girl shook her head. Her movements were subtle, but clear. "Can we talk?" she asked him.

"Lights out," he reminded her, scolding her as though she were a child but he an adult. "We can talk in the morning."

"But I can't sleep," Roma softly pleaded. "This whole thing is really hard for me, and you're the only one who's already awake." She leaned in, grabbing his hand and getting close enough for him to see the need in her blue eyes, despite the scarce light in the room. "Please."

Vegeta bit down on the inside of his left cheek, silently damning his own emotions. No matter how strong he tried to be, those stupid things kept creeping up and weakening his resolve. With a very quiet grunt, he got out of his bed, helping Roma sneak quietly out of the room. They had never broken curfew before, never been foolish enough to try. But there was something about that evening that made the risk somehow seem worth it.

They slid into the training grounds and sat on the floor. Vegeta folded his arms over his chest, shot Roma a look, and very crisply said, "Talk."

Nervously, Roma looked down at her feet, a move Vegeta found to be quite disturbing. Roma had always been the most outgoing and brash of their group, throwing tact to the wind whenever they were in even the most remote of social settings. She said what was on her mind, the hell of what the others thought. The idea of her suddenly being shy and coy was even more off putting to him than the news of Dorgian's death.

"Roma," he prompted, "we will be severely disciplined for breaking curfew if we are caught, so could you at least make it worth it and tell me why we are here?"

"Dorgian's dead," she softly responded.

While it was tempting to reply with _Well, obviously,_ Vegeta managed to restrain himself. It hardly seemed like the appropriate response. However, nothing more appropriate came to mind, so he chose to remain silent and hoped that she would continue on without his assistance.

"It's just…it's just wrong," she went on, still looking at the ground. "He was a good guy, and now he's gone. And he didn't die in a battle, or from being sick, or anything like that. He died from going home."

"Luck was clearly not with him," the prince responded, his tone slightly more clipped than he had intended it to be.

Roma looked up, the barest signs of tears in her blue eyes. "How can you talk like that?" she demanded.

Vegeta shrugged. He, too, felt some sense of loss at the death of their comrade, but without any real emotional attachment to the boy, he was able to focus more on logic than his feelings. "The planet was destroyed," he pointed out. "I have a few theories for how that might have happened, but we will not be able to really tell until the official report comes out. We both know that his people were not heavily reliant on destructive technology, so we can fairly well assume that it was not some form of technical malfunction. They would not have had anything that could have caused that much damage on the planet."

Across from him, Roma frowned, but listened carefully. During their meeting that day, they had focused mostly on what the loss of that empire meant for them as far as strategy was concerned. They had also been told that they were not to speculate on the cause of the incident until the official report came out, but it appeared Vegeta was already several steps in to it.

"Their people had more than sufficient power to destroy the planet," he went on, "as most of us here either already have or should have fairly shortly. I think it is very possible that someone unstable or incredibly dimwitted let their power out in the direction of the planet core. That could have done it. The only other likely outlook is that someone off world took the shot and deliberately took them out."

"But how will we know for sure?" Roma asked. "There's no way to prove that someone on the planet did it, because whoever was on the planet clearly didn't survive."

Vegeta relaxed slightly, leaning back on his hands. "If that one is the scenario," he figured, "then the report will say that they found nothing conclusive. They may or may not add suggestions, but we'll never get a clear answer. Anything else should be in the formal write up."

Roma's frown deepened. "How could they have known that Dorgian was even on the planet that day?" she asked.

"He normally was," Vegeta returned. "As far as they knew, he never left."

"I know," the girl responded. "That's what's really bugging me about this. Dorgian wasn't there for so long, but within five hours of getting back on the planet, it gets destroyed. If he was supposed to be on the planet the entire time, then doesn't it seem beyond weird that the planet _happened_ to blow up at that time?"

"You know he was already thinking that," a new voice called out.

The two children looked up and watched as Takyra slid in to the training grounds. "How did you know we were here?" Roma asked.

But Vegeta rolled his eyes. "She always knows where I am. I've never been able to do a thing in my life without her being aware of it."

"It is written in the official sisterly contract," Takyra teased. "I am to give you no privacy, and I am to use that knowledge to bug the crap out of you."

Roma glanced back and forth between brother and sister. "You guys can really just find each other?" she asked. "Is that normal?"

Both Saiyan royals casually shrugged. "We really don't know," Takyra admitted. "We don't know any other Saiyans with siblings, so we have no way of knowing whether or not it's normal. But we have learned that it is not entirely unheard of for one Saiyan to be able to hunt down and locate another, regardless of distance or tracks, if they're close with each other. I don't know if they can do it like we can, though."

"So, you just always know where each other are," Roma mused. "Is it just an instinct thing?"

"It is for us," Takyra answered. "We don't have to think about it or anything. We just, well, know."

The other girl nodded slightly before letting out a despondent sigh, her mind wandering back to the original topic. "I still can't really believe that one of our friends is dead."

"He was not our friend," Vegeta disputed, though he kept his voice as peaceful as he could. "He was certainly an ally, and perhaps even a companion, but as far as I know, he was not a _friend_ to any of the three of us."

Roma punched the prince in his chest, hard enough to knock him over but not enough to do real damage. "What the hell is wrong with you?" she demanded. "We've spent almost every single day for the last few months with him! How can you not call him a friend?"

"Because he wasn't!" the prince fought back. "And before you go psychotic on me, I did not say he was a bad person or that I did not like him. I just stated that he was not our _friend_. We did not socialize with him during our free time, we did not go out of our way to eat meals with him, we did not even ask him what he enjoyed doing on his home world. We knew him as a future king, and we knew him as a fundamental part of our group, but that does not mean the same thing as a friend. He was a good man, and he will be missed, but he was not, at least, _my_ friend."

The girls were quiet, not knowing exactly what to say. While Vegeta really did make sense, it still seemed too callous a thing to say, given the situation. After several minutes of awkward silence passed, Roma cleared her throat. "So, are you guys also thinking that there's something up with the timing of all of this?"

"Yeah," Takyra responded. "But…I'm kind of trying not to."

Roma frowned. "Why not?"

"Because if that is the case," Vegeta answered for her, "then that means there is a traitor among us. Someone is leaking information to someone else. Our entire mission has been compromised, and we are all being targeted. Almost everything we have been training for has been rendered useless."

Letting out a sigh, Roma nodded. "I know," she admitted. "I was just hoping that one of you could come up with another explanation."

"Chances are low," Vegeta informed her. "But this is, of course, assuming this was done by someone off planet. It is also possible that Dorgian himself inadvertently triggered something."

"That doesn't seem likely to me," Takyra interrupted. "I mean, think about what kind of guy he was. How could he be the one to do something like that?"

Roma brushed a stray hair away from her face. "I don't think he would."

Vegeta opened his mouth to make another point, but he was stopped by another voice. "You three should not be out of bed."

All three children snapped their heads to the far end of the room, eyes full of worry as they saw Kaeyea leaning against the wall. They had broken a rule by being out of the bunkroom, and she had them dead to rights on it. They quickly made their way to their feet, standing at full attention as the warrior approached them.

"Go to bed," she gently said, her arms relaxed at her sides.

The three young ones subtly looked at one another, not entirely certain what was going on. By all reason, they should have been getting lectured and punished for their actions. And Kaeyea never took it easy on any person for any offense.

But that night was different. The woman knelt down and looked them in the eye. "It has been a very long day for us all," she said. "You should get your rest. I will see you in the morning." There was no threat in her voice, no promise of punishment to come. Just a simple, gentle command.

It was almost as unsettling to them as Dorgian's death.


	15. Chapter 15

Takyra squirmed slightly in her seat, uncomfortable both physically and emotionally. It had been one week since the death of their comrade, and it had not been a good one. No one had been themselves over the past few days, each one of the future empire leaders suddenly more guarded than they had ever been before. Their lessons had been tense at best, unbearable at worst. With few exceptions, they refused to even speak to each other beyond what was absolutely necessary.

The guardians had been well aware of the sudden shift in their behaviors, and they were truly concerned. Those children had arrived as proud, arrogant future leaders who were all assumed to be the best at everything on their home worlds. Just about all of them had seemed far older than they really were. They had been prepped and primed and groomed to be superior. But after that point, they seemed like the children they were, nervous and unsure of the world around them. They were no longer effective, rendering most of their exercises virtually useless.

So they were sent home.

It was a temporary cease in their plans, but it was still a crushing blow to them. They had not anticipated losing any time at all during their training, let alone taking a full month hiatus. Even if none of the students took a slide in any arena during their time off, a scenario that seemed highly unlikely, they would still be far behind schedule. But without them feeling safe in their environment, it was pointless to keep them around, and they had been sent home.

However, it was not a comforting thought for any of the young pupils. Given how Dorgian died, none of them were particularly relaxed at the notion of putting their feet on their home planets for an extended period of time. Everyone and everything was a threat for them, and they would be returning home unable to see things the way they had when they had left.

And so Takyra sat in the back of the small ship, almost nervous at the idea of going home. She and her brother had returned several times over the course of their training, rarely for more than the few hours needed to let the king and queen know that they were still, in fact, alive. They were hardly the most attentive parents in the universe, and it really did only require a few hours every few weeks for the children to be considered present and accounted for. It would be strange to actually be near the rest of their people again, yet another thing that had the little princess on edge.

But the largest change, as far as that young girl was concerned, was that their party was returning with one more passenger than they had originally left with. Roma had never really had a world she had called her home, and for reasons that had never been clarified to either of the young royals, it had been decided that the redhead would be spending the hiatus on the home world of the Saiyans. Despite the fact that Roma had been lab created, had no parents, no connection to the planet, and was only a half-blood, she would taking up residence among the warrior race.

They had been flying for several hours in a tense silence, and the idea of continuing that uncomfortable pattern for the next four days was unsettling, especially considering their tight quarters. There were no rooms on their small ship, no place for them to lie down, and their nutrition was limited to densely packed bars of near flavorless supplements loosely referred to as 'food'. They were in for an uncomfortable journey.

Finally, the tension got to the redhead. "So, not to be rude or anything," she asked all in the ship, "but why are we flying in a small trade vessel? I kind of figured that with all of you guys being ranking members in the universe, we'd be in something at least big enough for a sleep mat."

"We do not wish to advertise our presence," Kaeyea explained, not looking back at the child. "We are in a small, standard issue trade vessel because it allows us to travel the systems and approach the planet without anyone particularly caring. It is best that no one know I have taken the royal heirs off world."

"Okay, I get that," Roma went on, a small frown on her face, "but if we have access to teleporters, which I know we do, why are any of us _flying _back?"

Beside her, Vegeta rolled his eyes. "We have been relying on the skills of the teleporters to move us back and forth for the small visits, but they do not have the strength and stamina to do it more than a few times in a day safely. Do you really want to be moved by someone who's so tired they could accidentally drop you off in the middle of barren space?"

"Well aren't you just a ray of sunshine," Roma snipped back. "It was just a question, okay?"

"It was an idiotic question," the prince returned.

Roma straightened in her chair, a fire burning in her bright blue eyes. "Why you bratty little…"

"Both of you, shut up back there!" Kaeyea shouted. "If you cannot behave on your own, I swear to all higher beings in the universe I will bind you to your seats and sedate you both!" She was the guardian of the royal children, a high honor that was not doled out lightly, but she had no problem disciplining them as she saw fit. After all, there was virtually no one who would question her.

The two arguing children froze, both knowing full well that the senior Saiyan would follow through with her threat. If she said she would tie them down and drug them, she meant it.

From the third seat, Takyra clapped a hand over her mouth and tried unsuccessfully to suppress a laugh. It earned her a hard look from her brother, but with Kaeyea's threat still lingering heavily in the air, the prince kept his mouth shut. After all, he would have been lying if he claimed not to be intimidated by her. A few minutes passed as she regained composure and the other two stewed in silence before bringing up a question she had been holding on to since they had first disembarked.

"Where is Roma going to stay once we get home?"

From the front of the ship Kaeyea answered calmly. "I have a sub-quarters in my private living area," she informed them. "That is where she will be staying."

"Wait a minute," Vegeta interrupted. "You're going to keep her in the palace?"

At his side, Roma frowned. "Even I think that's not a fantastic idea," she agreed. "I don't know if anyone's aware of this, but I'm going to stick out a little, and someone's bound to notice someone with my hair wandering around the palace, especially since I've never been there before." There was a brief pause before she reluctantly asked, "Are you going to be dyeing my hair or something to blend in? Because to be honest, I'm not really happy about that idea."

"As touching as it is to know how vain you are about your hair," Kaeyea bit out, "you do not need to concern yourself with that. You will not be visible. You are going to remain cloistered. My chambers have back tunnels and access points to everything you will need. If you are given the opportunity to leave that area, it will be only under my direct authorization and supervision. You are right, we can't have a new face running around the palace with no explanation, even a child."

Roma frowned. "I have to stay inside only specific rooms?" she miserably asked.

"It's not as bad as it sounds," Takyra assured. "You're only going to have slightly less access than we do."

"Why is she even coming with us at all?" Vegeta questioned.

It was a fair question, and honestly Kaeyea was surprised that the boy had kept his mouth shut on the subject as long as he had. "She is half Saiyan," she answered, her voice making it evident that back talk and interruptions would not be tolerated. "For years she has been kept from learning about that part of her, and it is time that she learn her heritage and her culture. She has also, over time, shown that it is the genes from the Saiyan side of makeup is the dominant one. And as she grows older and needs to establish a permanent residence, it will be easier for her to claim citizenship in our society than in the Rothulian culture."

"You offer citizenship to half-bloods?" Roma softly asked.

Vegeta gave her a questioning look. "As far as I know, we've never even had a half-blood exist before."

"That is the current information," Kaeyea responded. "There are not many races in the area that are capable of cross breeding. That is why Roma is the only mixed race member of the group. None of the other breeds could be successfully combined. Most of us where fairly surprised when we found that it was the Saiyan-Rothulian hybrid that actually came to fruition."

"So what's going to make it easier for me to blend in with the Saiyans?" Roma asked.

"A combination of your appearance and attitude," the guardian answered. "You are more than aware that the Rothulians have brighter and bolder skin colors than we Saiyans do, and your tones are far closer to our olive range than their pinks. Also, you carry the tail. All in all, the only thing that makes you stand out among other Saiyans are your hair and eye color, both of which I believe can be ultimately overlooked."

Vegeta frowned. "How is someone with red hair going to blend in with a people who only have black hair?"

"You have had limited access to the Saiyan race," Kaeyea counseled. "While many do have black hair, red undertones are not all that uncommon. Even I have them. It is likely why Roma has such bright coloring."

Takyra leaned forward and studied the back of her guardian's head. The woman had dark hair with deep magenta highlights all over it, and the coloring had been seen before. But somehow it suddenly seemed new. "That's your natural color?"

"Most of it," she replied with a little smile. "The point is that while I don't know of any with such an extreme amount of it, red is not a foreign hair color to our people. As she ages, Roma will almost certainly have an easier time blending in with our culture."

"So, I would be able to be a citizen?" the bright girl asked.

Kaeyea turned her head slightly, smirking at the three children. "That will ultimately depend on the policies set by the ruler of our people when you are an adult."

"Yes!" Roma cheered. She jumped out of her seat and gave Vegeta a tight hug. "Thank you!"

"Get the hell off of me!" the little prince shouted as he attempted to liberate himself from the grip. "If you do not let go of me this instant, I will pass a law stating that you, specifically, cannot even _apply_ for citizenship!"

While the redhead did loosen her grip, she did not fully relinquish control. "Aw, I know you'll come through for me!" she said with a wink. "Besides, if you won't let me in, your sister will."

"This is true," Takyra giggled.

"Hey, I'm going to be king, not you!" the boy shouted at his sister, still trying to get Roma to let go completely. "I make the laws, not you!"

Roma stuck out her lower lip as she kept her arms wrapped around the prince's neck. "Yeah, but you're not going to want to let your sister down, are you? After all, let's think how miserable she can make your life every single day. And you wouldn't want her to end up doing anything rash that would lead her to try to take over the throne, would you?"

Finally able to duck out of her arms, Vegeta shot to his feet and sent the half-blood a dirty look. "She would never attempt to assume the throne from me," he sneered.

"And why not?" the girl challenged.

"Because then she'd be stuck ruling the empire, and she doesn't want to do that," Vegeta smugly answered.

"That is true," Takyra affirmed with a laugh. "I like the power, but I really don't want the responsibility."

Vegeta cocked his head with confidence. "See?"

The two girls teamed up to tease the boy for another few minutes before they all fell into a more comfortable silence for a while. Well, at least the females seemed to be more at ease. The young prince was slightly slouched in his seat, his arms grumpily crossed over his chest as he pouted silently, but that was hardly a new position for him. Almost a full hour passed quietly before Takyra softly brought up a topic that had been weighing on her.

"Are we going to be safe when we get home?"

It was a valid question. "There is a certain degree of concern," Kaeyea honestly answered. "It would be idiotic for us to assume that any of us are in a protected shell from the universe. But that was as true before as it is now."

Vegeta looked up, clearly not content with the answer. "Is there a contingency plan in case we find ourselves in the same position Dorgian did?"

Her eyes stayed forward as the guardian answered. "There is. However, I plan to go over it with you extensively tomorrow. For now, it is time for the three of you to rest. I will be dimming the lights soon."

Roma looked around the small ship. It was essentially a cockpit with five seats in it, followed by a very small cargo area in the rear. And outside of the cockpit the ship was not a comfortable place to be. "So…is there a designated spot for each one of us to sleep?"

"Wherever there's space," Takyra answered.

The redhead shrugged, having already figured as such. "Just wondering," she nonchalantly replied. "I was just curious. I mean, it seemed a little odd to me that royalty wouldn't have something a little fancier, but…"

"Frivolity is something that one should never become attached to," Kaeyea sharply interrupted. "There is no promise that luxurious accommodations will always be available, particularly if we ever end up in a war, and I will not raise children who are too weak to handle something as simple as finding a place to acquire adequate rest."

At Roma's side, Vegeta snorted. "We have spent how much time being beaten, whipped, and physically disciplined by this woman, and you're raising the question of _sleeping arrangements_ as a major concern?"

The girl simply returned the look and answered with a simple, "Shut up, that's why."

"Hn."

Not another word was spoken at that time. Kaeyea reached for the console and dimmed the lights, giving the silent command for the children to turn in. And just as they had been quietly instructed, all three of them lay down on the floor. They had no pillows, no blankets, no comforts of any kind, but they did not complain. They closed their eyes and allowed themselves to drift off as they listened to the white noise of the ship's engines.

After all, frivolity should never be expected in times of war.


	16. Chapter 16

Roma stretched out on her mat, enjoying her moment to relax. Since arriving on the planet, she had been training almost nonstop. That, alone, had not bothered her. In many ways she found herself enjoying the new sense of physical drive she had discovered there. However, while she had been cloistered before, since gaining the royals as friends, the redhead had discovered that she was quite the social creature. Keeping herself isolated most days, save the occasional quiet company of Kaeyea in the evening, was almost driving her mad. But that day was going to be a good day, because the prince and princess were going to visit her.

"I can't wait," she told herself. She knew it was odd to speak to herself out loud, but as there was rarely anyone to talk to, she would take what she could get. "I wonder if they've done anything fun. Probably not. It sounds like they have to work all day too, like me. But they're still going to be fun. Okay, Takyra is going to be fun. Vegeta will be fun to tease." She kicked a leg up and circled her ankle, a smile on her face. "He gets fun after a while."

"But does anyone other than the two of us know that?"

Roma hopped up and ran over to Takyra, hugging the girl. "You're here!"

"No, I'm halfway across the planet," the princess sarcastically responded. "You've just gone crazy and started hallucinating."

Roma laughed and gave her dear friend a playful jab in the arm. "Hey, where's your less lighthearted half?"

Takyra shook her head. "He is probably going to be a little bit. Someone made fun of him, so he had to stop long enough to kick their butt."

The redhead stared at her friend. "Who was dumb enough to tease him? I mean, other than me? I get away with it because, well, I just do. But no one other than you and me can do that! That's just stupid!"

"You know that, and I know that," the princess explained, "and now there's a teenage moron who's on probation from the academy who knows it." She shook her head again. "So what have you been doing all week?"

"Training, what else?" Roma laughed. "Though really I'm not sure why. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind doing it, but since I almost never get to leave the room, it seems like kind of a waste." The door to her chambers opened, and Kaeyea entered, her other young charge following behind. "We miss the fun?"

"Shut up," Vegeta grumbled.

Kaeyea leaned casually against the wall and surveyed the children before her. Though many of their tendencies were still rather juvenile, she was overall impressed, and even in awe, of the adult behaviors they displayed more often than not. When work was asked of them, they would perform their tasks diligently and to the best of their abilities. When given tasks that many adults would struggle with, they would still find a way to get them accomplished. And just that afternoon, when the young prince had been openly challenged by an older boy, the child had reacted coolly, calmly, and swiftly. True the older boy would be in the infirmary for a while, but her young charge had held his temper and only exerted his powers far enough to bring his challenger down, not enough to leave him permanently injured or incapacitated.

"Well, you've been here for a couple weeks," Takyra spoke to the redhead. "What do you think so far?"

Roma rolled her eyes. "I think it took me a couple days to adapt to the gravity and that I've almost never left this room. There's not a lot to tell so far."

"You will be permitted more liberal privileges over time," Kaeyea assured. "Your future does, in fact, require it."

"Yeah, that's another thing," the fiery girl brought up. "You keep talking about my future here, but you haven't really told me what that is. What, exactly, do you have planned for me?"

The guardian locked eyes with the girl, and her face remained neutral as she answered. "You are being trained to fill my position in the future. You have shown amazing promise. You power, your skills, your instincts, and even your compassion will be vital for the job."

Vegeta, Takyra, and Roma all stared at the tall woman. "Why do you need a replacement?" Vegeta demanded.

"I was assigned first to guard the queen," the guardian explained, "and then to protect the future line. When the three of you are grown, and the line continues on further, I cannot properly protect all of you. I will likely be assigned to one of you personally, the future queen, or the next generation. There will need to be someone else to protect the ones I am not assigned to. Most likely, so far as I can tell, you will be assigned either to Takyra or the heirs of the next generation."

"Wait, what?" Roma asked. "Um, isn't that a pretty important job? Like, the most important job that does not require you to be part of the royal family?"

"Indeed."

The redhead was stunned. "Not that I don't appreciate it, but why would you give that job to a half-breed like me? Isn't that going to be controversial?"

Kaeyea's face remained neutral as she answered. "Likely. However, as is part of my position, I have been looking for one with the abilities to fulfill such a task, and your skills have proven well above those of any other candidate."

"How were you chosen for this?" Takyra asked. It was something that she had wondered often but never before felt comfortable asking.

The guardian was quiet for a moment before she answered. "When I was younger," she began, "I was at the top of my academy class. There were three of us, constantly competing for the title of best soldier. All three of us were quite gifted. All three of us were the best." Her eyes seemed to glaze over slightly as she thought about the past, but her young charges knew she was as alert as ever. "Several years ago a decree was made that all three of us were to report to the capital. They would not tell us why initially, but we found out that they needed one of us to assume the mantle of queen."

The children listened attentively. It was all new information to them.

Kaeyea shook her head slightly as she thought back. "There were political reasons they needed the best of the best to become the queen," she explained.

"This part we know," Vegeta interrupted. "They needed good genetic material in order to design us." One hard glare from her informed the young prince that his comments had been noted, but another outburst would not be tolerated.

"One of us was eliminated for already being with child," she went on. "She had gone against academy rules and lain with one of the boys in our class. They called her tainted, and she was dismissed from the project and expelled from the academy. The council was then left to choose between myself and the one they eventually selected as queen. We were equals, though, and they knew that I was the best of my class. They also knew that I was the only one on the planet the queen would trust. They assigned me to her protection detail, and moved me to the position of guardianship when you were made. That is all."

Roma nodded along, but found herself far more interested in the future than the past. "So if I'm so good," the child ask, "why wouldn't I be assigned to grumpy butt over there when he becomes king?"

Vegeta shot her a hard glare. "I am so going to kick your ass."

"Whatever you say."

Kaeyea rolled her eyes. They could be extremely mature, yes, but their juvenile natures certainly did shine through from time to time. "You will not hold that position because I will," she clearly pointed out. "I have many years of service left in me. You are good, child. I am better."

Roma shrugged. "Eh, fair enough." She turned to Vegeta and gave him a cocky smirk. "Just as well. I wouldn't want to spend all day, every day with you anyway."

"As though I would willingly choose to spend all day with you," he sneered back. "You are an annoying, hyperactive brat."

"And you're a narcissistic pain in the ass," she shot back. "See? The system works."

Quietly, Takyra made her way to the other side of the room and softly asked their guardian, "How long do you think they'll treat each other like this?"

Kaeyea, watching the two children bicker, smirked. "Probably for the rest of their lives."

/

Several more weeks passed, and true enough, Roma was permitted to leave her quarters more and more. After the decision had been made by Kaeyea that Roma was, in fact, more than qualified to assume a guardian position, everything about the child needed to be exposed to the public. At first the Saiyans openly gawked at her. Even when quiet she stood out with her shocking red hair. She was the first Saiyan most of them had ever heard of who was not of pure blood, and there were certainly mixed views on such an existence. As time went on and she grew confident and bold, it was her attitude of oddly optimistic aggression that drew attention.

Vegeta and Takyra were, for the most part, amused by such behaviors. She certainly lacked refinement, a trait that made her far different than most anyone else they had regular contact with. Her laid back attitudes toward everyday things was novel to them. In an odd way, she was the childish release the two serious young royals needed. But as laid back as Roma appeared, she was surprisingly attentive to all that went on around her, and she never let a challenge slide by. She would make an excellent guardian someday.

One day, the atmosphere around the capital seemed very different. Everyone seemed far more tense than usual, but no one would say what the trouble was to the children. Hushed whispers filled the halls, all of them carrying a message of foreboding.

"What is going on?" Vegeta asked his guardian.

But Kaeyea did not give him an answer to his question, and instead told him to drop what his was doing and to go along with her. Silently she wove him through the hallways of the palace, pausing only long enough to collect his sister before taking them all the way to a room neither of them had been to before. "What is going on?" the prince demanded again.

"Stay here," was all they were told as the woman left.

Takyra gave her brother a nervous look. "I have a bad feeling about this," she softly said.

"This makes no sense," her brother added. "What is going on? Why are we here? This is a lockdown room, correct? This is to be used for emergencies. There were no sirens, no alarms. There were no signs of danger at all. Of course, the general unease is a sign, but of what? What are we missing? What am _I_ missing?"

They were quiet after that as they awaited Kaeyea's return. With only questions and no information, they held no ability to properly prepare themselves for what the situation may be. Nervousness was not a trait adult Saiyans often displayed. Even the children only showed it occasionally. But it seemed to them as though the entire populace was on edge, and from that they were deeply concerned.

Kaeyea returned a few minutes later with Roma in tow. "What's going on?" the redhead called as they were locked in the room.

The guardian calmly checked the door, ensuring that it was secure, before she answered. "We are simply taking precautions," she told them.

"Against what?" the prince demanded.

"There are ships nearing our planet," Kaeyea explained, "that bare the mark of the Kold Empire. It would seem that they intend to send members planet side. They claim it is a diplomatic mission."

Immediately all three children were on edge. The Kold Empire. The monster from across the galaxy that they had been working to defend themselves against, the beast they were working to slay. And it was not something that was systems away or years from confrontation. It was there. Waiting for them. Watching them. Threatening them. Insofar as they were aware, it was the first time in the lifespans that such a contact had ever been made.

Vegeta was the first of them to speak. "What do they want?"

"Currently, that is unknown," was the answer.

That did not help calm anyone. "Well, when will we know?" the prince pushed on.

"When they tell us."

"You cannot be serious," the boy balked. "Are you telling us that we are going to allow them to come here, into our empire, without giving good cause first? We cannot allow that!"

"It is not your decision," the guardian scolded.

The prince bit his tongue for a moment. Kaeyea was one of the very few people on the planet with the authority to hit him if he got too far out of line, and she had no problem using it. She was not likely to use that privilege for something as simple as asking a question, but given the energy she seemed to be radiating, he knew that treading lightly would be a good idea. "I am simply curious," he slowly tried again, "about why we would allow such a privilege to representatives of an empire that we are not allied with. Traditionally these sorts of meetings are handled over some sort of transmission, not in person on the planet. It seems odd to me."

Kaeyea tried to allow herself to relax slightly. The boy was just being curious, as anyone in his position would have been. "You are correct," she answered. "It is an unusual circumstance. And that is why the three of you are to remain here, in this room with me, until they have left again."

Takyra sat down on the floor and leaned against the wall as she asked her brother's question again. "What do they want?"

"I don't know," the guardian softly answered.

Again the children were set on edge. The intimidating woman rarely, if ever, used soft and gentle tones while speaking. What was worse was the fact that there seemed to be something else behind it, like a hint of sorrow. Whatever was happening outside of those walls was enormous, and seemingly had the potential to cause great damage to their lives.

For almost six hours they stayed in there, and not one of them spoke again until Kaeyea was given the go ahead to allow them to emerge.

/

When she emerged from the queen's chamber hours later, Kaeyea was livid. Her temper was just barely kept under control as she stormed her way through the palace halls, returning to her young charges. Every Saiyan she crossed not only got out of her way but pressed themselves up against the wall to ensure they were not going to accidentally block her and incur her wrath. She was mad. Mad enough to kill. And if those around her pushed her one step further, she just might.

The two royal siblings had been left in a locked room to tend to their studies while she had been in her meeting. It was hardly the panic room they had been in earlier, but the message was clear enough. No one to was to come near them. Kaeyea's rage was so intense, though, that they could tell she was returning and angry even without the aid of scouters. Not even Vegeta said anything when she barged in, no matter how badly they wanted to know what was going on.

Two minutes passed with her fuming before she spoke. "It would appear that an old contract between ourselves and the Kold Empire is being renewed."

The children exchanged nervous glances. "What does that mean for us?" Vegeta asked.

"It means," the guardian ground out, "that our armies are to be on standby as their lackeys. The Kold's have power over us directly now."

"How are we going to handle this?" the prince questioned, his growing unease evident in his young voice.

Kaeyea shook her head. "I don't know, boy," she answered. "I just don't know."


	17. Chapter 17

"They cannot seriously do this," Vegeta scoffed. "It is completely unreasonable!"

"Unreasonable or not, it has happened," the guardian snapped. "And you will be mindful of that as you consider your future actions."

Roma raised a red eyebrow. "What is that supposed to mean?" she seriously asked.

Kaeyea kept her eyes on the prince. "They are watching you," she informed him, acting as though they were the only two in the room. "They are studying you. They know that the current king can be manipulated fairly easily, but they also know that it is you that they need to focus on. The current alliance will only hold so long as the king decides. Alliances fall all the time, and the Kold's are going to want to know if they can expect cooperation from you when it is your turn to rule."

"I can tell you now that I hold no intention in honoring such a thing," Vegeta sneered. "We are not their puppets! We are the Saiyans, a warrior race that bows to none!"

But the adult hardly seemed impressed. "Your arrogance in the matter already would be enough for them to consider a drastic move," she warned. "And with this particular enemy, nothing is off limits. Killing you to prevent an adversarial monarch would be the least extreme of their methods."

Though he wanted to protest and insist that he would not back down, the boy knew that she spoke the truth. The Kold's were almost legendary in their underhanded dealings. Betrayal, torture, and purges were all standard for them. They were truly monsters. "We cannot allow them to do this to our people," he spoke anyway. "We cannot turn our backs on them and sell them as though they were property."

"And we will find a way, in time, to deal with this," Kaeyea said in return. "But as things are right now, we cannot do anything about it. And that is why you…" It was almost as though she were choking on her own words. "You are going to have to play down your skills and intelligence." She could see him gearing up for a fight, but she could not let him stand his ground. "Do not start with me on this one, boy. If they suspect that you are even half as talented as you truly are, you are as good as dead. They will execute you before the next quarter moon."

The young prince sneered. "It is a cowardly approach."

"There is no honor among them," Takyra softly pointed out. "Brother, please, do as she says."

"Yeah, it'd be a shame to have you get knocked off now," Roma chirped in. "You're so much fun to torture. Who am I going to screw with if they kill you?"

As the boy opened his mouth to argue, the guardian stamped her foot, signaling that she wanted their immediate silence. "This is a serious matter," she scolded. "A false move on anyone's part could cost many, many lives. Remember what you have learned about this empire."

Any hint of joking was gone from Roma immediately. The Kolds were the ruthless creatures that parents told their children about at night. And as powerful as the Saiyans might be, even the children understood that a full on war with that empire would likely not end well for them. "What were the terms of the agreement?" Vegeta quietly asked.

"Not all details were released to me," Kaeyea admitted. "But I do know that they will have representatives staying on the planet."

The three children exchanged glances. "So when you said that Vegeta was going to be watched," Roman spoke, "you meant that literally?"

"Yes."

Another round of unsure glances. "Do we know how long the representatives will be here?" Takyra gently wondered.

"Unsure."

Kaeyea's answers were blunt and sharp, indicating that her mood was only getting worse. Though all of them wanted to ask more questions, none of them dared incur her anger. Kaeyea in a bad mood was dangerous, even to the royals. Through their unspoken bond, the siblings tried to ask one another what it all would mean.

Neither one of them could have been prepared for the outcome.

/

"They're back."

Roma had muttered the words under her breath, but the royal children had heard her clearly. Several months had passed them by since the agreement had been made, and they had spent that entire time carefully watching everyone around them. It was odd, but simply knowing that an alliance had been formed with such a twisted enemy had them suddenly suspicious of _everyone's_ motives. No one was above it, save the four in the close circle. Even the king and queen were watched with great scrutiny. Everything over those months had seemed more than a little off.

At that moment they watched members of their enemies army strolling down the palace corridors, acting as though they were the ones in charge. Glares and snarls met them, but the intruders did not seem to care. They were arrogant in the presence, utterly unapologetic for violating space that was not theirs to occupy.

Following directions that had been given to her, Roma guided the royals out of that hallway and into an unused training room. Had they not been present when the directive was given, they both would have likely resisted. But they were living in troubling times, and Kaeyea had left no room for disagreement on the topic.

"Do either of you know what's going on?" Takyra asked once the door was closed.

Roma shook her head. "I wish I did," she sighed. "It seems really strange to me that they summoned Kaeyea away from you and did not send an adult in her place."

"Who could they have sent?" Vegeta challenged. "I am more powerful than the majority of the grown Saiyans, and the ones that could stop someone who was a legitimate threat to me are all otherwise occupied in court affairs. Finding a warrior of Kaeyea's caliber who would be willing to spend her day with children is near impossible."

"Maybe that's why Kaeyea told us to keep close to Roma," Takyra reasoned. "She's not more powerful than we are, but she is our equal."

"_Near_ equal," Vegeta corrected.

"_Complete_ equal," Roma challenged. "And either way, she's got a point. I might not be able to totally stop any threat aimed at you, but I could at least slow it down long enough to allow either real help to arrive or at least for you to get away."

The prince scoffed at the notion of running away. "It is a cowardly practice."

"In certain times, it can be," Roma agreed. "But it can be a necessary action for survival, and should not be dismissed entirely." When the other two children stared at her, the redhead answered, "What? I get this stuff drilled into my head all day long. Of course I'm going to repeat it!"

A quiet minute passed before the princess wondered, "What's going on?"

"As far as I am aware," her brother answered, "we have no way of gaining that information. Not while staying in here, at least."

Roma raised a bright eyebrow at him. "What, no grand scheme for breaking out of here and getting into trouble?"

But Vegeta shook his head. "Not today." Something about the entire situation was wrong, and bold as he was, the prince knew it would be beyond unwise to attempt anything but the most cautious behavior.

With nothing but themselves and an empty room, the three children spent most of the next hour in silence. It seemed wrong to make light of anything or joke around. They did not think that training at that time would be wise, as it would lower their guard against reality, and without reading material or game pieces to use, there was little but silence for them to play with. As they rounded into a second hour, a noise sounded at the door. All three of them popped to their feet, all three of them assuming a defensive stance meant to protect the other two. Needless to say, several limbs were intertwined as the door opened.

Kaeyea glared at them. "Are the three of you completely out of your minds?" she scolded. "Had I been an enemy, you would all have been killed by now!"

The children bickered slightly as they detangled themselves, but they all bowed their heads at the guardian the moment they were done. "We're sorry," Roma apologized. "We need to come up with a set plan for the next time all three of us are together like this."

The guardian seemed extremely displeased. "How could you not have one yet?" she demanded. "Roma is a line of defense to protect the royal family. She stands in front, you two fall back! There is no discussion beyond that!"

While they knew they had made a mistake, their guardian seemed angrier about it than usual. Roma, as always the one to waive convention and social technicality, was the one to ask, "What happened?"

Angrily, Kaeyea threw her fist against the wall, cracking the powerful material under her blow. The children jumped back, suddenly afraid of the guardian's violent temper. The tall woman growled and threw her arms us in frustration, shaking out her fist. "Those sons of bitches!" she shouted. She looked over at the nervous children and chastised herself for her outburst in their presence. Her anger was no excuse for such behavior in front of the children. She forced herself to take a calming breath before informing them of the situation.

"I have been reassigned."

Vegeta stared at his former guardian, stunned. "They can't do that."

"They can," she bluntly informed him. "And they did. I have been reassigned to protection detail of the queen, effective tomorrow." She shook her head, fighting to keep her temper in check. "They have assigned someone else to protect you."

His heart sinking already, the prince hesitantly asked, "Who?"

Kaeyea ground her teeth together. Just thinking about all of it made her want to explode. "Nappa."

Staring in complete disbelief, Roma asked, "No, seriously, who got the assignment?" But when Kaeyea threw her head back and roared furiously, the children knew that she spoke the truth.

"Are they completely mad?" Vegeta hollered. "Nappa is not worthy of such a position! A guardian must be _at least_ as powerful as the one they are meant to protect. I have been able to kick Nappa's ass for years, and I am still a child! Anything that would pose a threat to me would have no problem at all of brushing a buffoon like him aside!"

Takyra began to wring her hands together. "Is there any way to get them to change it back?"

Back in control, Kaeyea shook her head. "I have been in there arguing with people with the authority to have me executed because of the stupidity of this plan, but they refuse to listen! They have made it quite clear that this change will be made, and that there will be no going back from it."

In a bit of a state of shock, Roma looked at the other two children and softly asked, "So, our plans…"

"Are worthless now," Kaeyea interrupted. "The secrecy of the work we have done cannot be violated. If I am to be reassigned, we cannot put anyone else in my place on that team. You will be cut from it out of necessity."

"With due respect," Takyra meekly pointed out, "we have not spoken to anyone else in almost a year. I am actually surprised to hear there is still a team left."

"It was our intention," the former guardian clarified, "to reform once we had several matters resolved. If that does happen, you will not be a part of it. I expect you will still work alongside them as allies, but proper training and work within the network will be lost to you."

Trying to downplay how much that bothered him, Vegeta shrugged a single shoulder. "It was probably going to end up like that anyway."

Though she could feel the lecture forming already, Kaeyea held her tongue. She only had a few hours left with her young charges, and while she was hardly a sentimental person, she knew she would miss their company. And she was certain she would miss the level of respect they showed her. The queen was never going to listen to her the way the prince and princess did. "Come," she finally sighed. "There are preparations to be made if you are to be protected by someone at that power level."

/

Another month went by, and a miserable one at that. Nappa proved to be less a guardian than a baby-sitter, constantly following the young royals without directly interacting with them too much. He was only too easy to get away from, and from time to time they did indeed ditch him, needing space from his lumbering shadow. At times he seemed to be more of a pet than anything else, happy to do whatever his masters told him. Truly, it was annoying.

With Kaeyea no longer training her, Roma found herself dismissed from that palace proper. Instead she was placed into the top academy, where she would continue to train until she could be given a formal assignment. While Vegeta did not want to admit it, he actually found himself missing her odd comments, assertive nature, and even her bright hair. She was a bizarre friend, to be sure, but she was indeed his friend.

Without Roma around, things were far quieter around the palace. Vegeta and Takyra once again found themselves focusing strictly on their studies and their training, taking only occasional breaks to challenge one another in a strategy game. Takyra, who had only started finding a social voice after Roma's entrance to her life, became almost completely silent, even with her brother. Vegeta's mood got darker, and his frustrations were starting to show themselves in far more aggressive ways. Almost all who lived in the confines of the palace could see the negative shift that had happened as a result of the children losing their chosen guardian, but no one would change it.

As the weeks went on, tensions in the palace only grew worse. Distrust was rampant among even the closest friends. People were fighting one another over matters that once would have been deemed trivial. Soldiers sent on missions in the name of the Kold Empire seemed to have an abnormally high mortality rate, even on missions that should not have been difficult to survive. Families feuded, each wanting to protect what they had while they had it. And every time a representative of the Kold Empire set foot on the planet, it seemed the world might be headed for civil war.

In private the young royals would try to find ways to resolve the mounting problems of their kingdom, but dangers grew faster than two children could stop them. Every time they began to find a solution, another problem erupted.

But one day, something worse than anything they had ever faced walked into their lives. There were five of them, and even before they put their scouters on, they could tell that these five were terrifyingly powerful. They were unchecked. They were vicious. They were savages. They were monsters.

They were the Ginyu.


End file.
